


Bustin Loose- Broken Dreams

by BettyHT



Series: Dream [1]
Category: Bonanza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 06:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15835470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BettyHT/pseuds/BettyHT
Summary: 1st in the Dream/Adele series.  Leaving the shambles of his dream in Boston, Adam takes an entirely different direction for his life in Colorado but doesn’t tell his family what he is doing.  Meanwhile Joe has a romance.





	Bustin Loose- Broken Dreams

Bustin' Loose -- Broken Dreams

Chapter 1

Journal Entry: Friday, January 25, 1868

If my father could see me now, he would surely enjoy this or he might have pity on me and look on me with that sad and condescending look of his that says without words that he knew this was going to happen. After I told him I needed to leave to find my dream, to establish my own life, and to live in the east or in Europe, I find that it is all a shambles, and I wish more than anything that I was living on the Ponderosa at this moment. He warned me, I think, that I was chasing a dream that was nearly twenty years old. I had an idea of what I wanted to do when I was sixteen, and when I was thirty-four, I had not truly developed that idea much except to let the wanderlust eat away at my soul until it felt like it had to burst free of its bonds or die. So I left to make my own way in the world, find my dream, and build my fortune.

One thing that I am very good at doing is making money, but that is more of a problem than I ever thought it would be. I imagined that if I could develop that skill, it would open doors and make it possible for me to do things I dreamed of doing. Instead, it has tied me to people who drag me down and attempt to suck the life and joy out of everything that I do. In only four years, I have built a fortune with a firm that designs and builds structures, but it has entangled me in a morass of relationships that is worse than any den of Mojave diamondbacks could ever be. I find sleep elusive at night and peace of mind eludes me every day. There must be a solution to this dilemma, but I wish I knew what it could be for at the moment I have no idea of how to proceed. I have commitments, obligations, and responsibilities, and most of all, I have Lucille. I feel I cannot walk away from them, and yet those are the very things that make my days hell and my nights torment.

In this mess, I can't blame Lucille. She is a fine woman and would I had met her under different circumstances and in another city, we might very well have a bright future together. She is intelligent, reads the same books I do, and loves so many of the same things I love, and of course her lovely features are what first made me notice her and strike up a conversation. She is goodness and light, but her father and his cronies are the very men I must escape. It is mainly because of her that I have not simply exploded in anger and gotten myself thrown out of every establishment and organization that has me tied here. After all she has done for me, I cannot treat her that way. It was through her influence that I got my first contract here. I remember the first day I was here and met her after being at the pastry shop where I had treated myself to a fine pastry thinking of it as a reward and a sign of a better life. How wrong I was.

Journal Entry: Friday, April 4, 1868

Tonight, I shall be going to what is supposed to be my engagement party. It is all so logical and expected. Step by step into this morass I've gone with seeming ease never realizing that that taste of pastry with a fine lady on one beautiful winter's day a few years ago would have led to this. I'm sure that Lucille's father is engaged in illegal contract work with the city bosses and other criminal elements. By working with my firm, he has entangled me in those enterprises. Financially I am tied to him and to them, and emotionally, I am tied to his daughter and thus to him again. I am being strangled, and I see only one way out. I plan to employ it this evening before our engagement is formally announced. It will either be formally announced and I will be on my way to freeing myself from her father's illicit business dealings or the engagement will be off and Lucille will toss me out of her house and her life. If she does so, her father will sever his business ties with me. Either way, I am free of that which I cannot tolerate. I will most likely be free of Lucille too because although she is a fine woman, her father will always be there. I cannot see her letting go of her ties to her family especially her father, and he is a tumor on society, a carbuncle of the worst sort. I cannot defeat him alone, and the forces who could are mostly allied with him. I fear the only moral recourse I truly have is to leave.

Friday, April 4, 1868

Taking special care to dress, Adam double-checked everything that evening including his shaving to make sure there was nothing that anyone could think to criticize in his appearance. He wanted everyone who saw him to know that he had gone to the Mason home ready to announce his engagement to Lucille Mason as anticipated. If she threw him out, he wanted to walk out of there looking like a success and not a failure. He had a carriage waiting and went down early hoping that he might have ample time to talk with Lucille before too many guests arrived. When he arrived at the Mason house, he was glad to see that there was only one other carriage there ahead of him. His driver was able to get a spot near the front walk. If he had to leave in a hurry, at least he wouldn't have to go far before climbing into the carriage and relative safety. He did worry about how Horace Mason would react after what he had planned. He hoped the surprise of it and the seeming innocence of it would be enough to mask his true intent long enough for him to clear out of the city one way or another. Despite his hopes, he felt the sweat on his neck as it slid down under the collar and down his neck. He wiped his brow before alighting from the carriage to walk with as light a step as he could manage up to the house greeting the servants as he always did with respect and a polite nod to each. Lucille always smiled indulgently at him when he did that not understanding at all why he did it. If they did marry, it was one of the things she needed to learn. Everyone deserved respect until they proved they didn't.

When Adam was admitted to the house, he was shown into the library and told that Lucille would join him there soon. A half hour later, she did. Adam had a half hour to rehearse.

After the usual greetings, he began his prepared script and waited for her reaction.

"Lucille, I've been thinking quite a lot, and I've come to some decisions. I think Boston has become a much colder and dirtier city than I remember. I want to go some place where the air is cleaner and the opportunities are more abundant. I don't want to be tied to what others have done. I want to make my own way. I have enough money that I can open a business anywhere."

"Of course, darling, we can do that. Father was just saying a few days ago that we need to think of expanding out into other cities. There are many lovely places we could go. I like Newport, and then there are several beautiful towns developing in the country outside Boston where the air is clean, and we could have a large estate with horses. You would like that, wouldn't you?"

"No, Lucille, I don't mean here. I was thinking of perhaps Australia or even the Sandwich Islands. I want to see more of the world and create something from nothing that is all my doing."

"Now, Adam, that is just ridiculous when we have so much here already. Why would we want to sink so low when we are the cream of society here?"

"Because I had nothing to do with building it. I want to build things, create things, and I'm not doing that here because I'm tied into working for firms that are well established already. Oh, I get plenty of work and lots of money, but that's not the point."

"Of course that's the point. Father did all of that for you because I wanted him to do that."

"You wanted him to do that?"

"Of course it was me. You don't think that they would have given that much to you based only on your merits, do you? There are so many other firms in the city. He favored your firm because of me. I told him that I favored you so he favored you. It's how things work in the world. Surely you knew that."

"Yes, I do know that, but I would think he wanted me to do work for him because I do the best work of any firm in the city. I have to turn down work because I'm stuck with commitments to your father's firms."

"That's not true."

"It is true. I've wanted to do other projects, but I can't because I'm stuck doing the work he contracts with his cronies for me to do. Oh, it pays very well, but I question the source of the money and have for some time. I'm afraid my wealth has been built on the backs of the taxpayers here. I can't do anything about the system. It's too entrenched, but I can leave it." At that point, Adam knew he had said far too much. His heart and conscience had betrayed him, and he had told the truth. He had told many people in the past that he did not lie. Once more he had proven that to be the case. Even when it meant so much to obfuscate, the truth is what he said.

"You've decided that you think we should leave but never consulted me? Is that how you think a marriage should work. My father is a good man."

"Lucille, in your heart, you know I'm right. If ever you face yourself in the mirror and tell yourself the truth, know that I love you, but I had to be true to myself first. I do wish you would think of the possibility of going with me. We could have a good life together. If you cannot consider that, then perhaps I should leave."

"If you want to make me choose between you and my family, then I guess that may be the only choice."

"Our engagement is broken then, I presume?"

"Our engagement is broken, and you can assume that you will not have any further business for your firm as of Monday morning. I'm sure my father will find a legal way to break every single contract you have. Oh, Adam, do you know what you're doing?"

"I know, and it has been every bit as painful as you can imagine. Very well. Good evening then. I hope you find someone more to your liking."

Reaching out, Lucille grabbed his arm. With tears in her eyes, she implored him. "Adam, I'm sorry for those things I said. I'm angry and hurt. I didn't mean them. Please reconsider. I do love you. You are to 'my liking' and I would want you as my husband, but you have to be realistic. We can't simply go wandering off into the world. We'll have a family to consider and responsibilities."

"It is those responsibilities to your father's business that have me the most concerned."

"But you would be marrying me not my father."

"I'm afraid your father will only approve of a man without a conscience and a soul."

Pulling free of her hand and turning away then, Adam walked out of the room as a vase crashed into the wall next to the door as he exited. He was glad at that point that her aim was so poor and had known that turning his back on her would infuriate her, but he regretted the noise because it drew everyone's attention. He had not wanted to hurt her so much, but had expected the anger to erupt if things did not go well and they had not. That noise wasn't going to allow him to make it to the carriage before word spread, and Horace's goons might be on him before he could make a clean getaway. Holding a hand over the pocket pistol in his fancy coat, he thought there was a good chance he was going to have to use it.

It was close too, but he only had to brandish it as he climbed into his carriage. His bags were packed and stashed away, and his funds had been transferred to a bank in New York earlier that week as a precaution. He did feel some sympathy for his employees whom he was leaving in the lurch, but he had left each a bonus in what was now their final paycheck. It had been a precaution but the odds had favored the necessity of it. He guessed they were wondering about that but would probably understand when they found the firm closed and shuttered on Monday morning. News of his Friday night activity and his flight from the city would spread fast in the business community, and they would understand why all of it had happened. His hired carriage took him to where the carriage he owned waited for him. It was loaded with his things and some food. He planned to drive himself so that no one would know where he had gone. By Saturday, Horace Mason was going to have a very difficult time finding him and would likely give up before he found him. At least, he hoped that would be true.

Journal Entry: Saturday, April 5, 1868

Last night, I thought it was the right thing to do. It is surprising what the morning light can do to your thoughts. When I went to talk with Lucille, there was that chance, and I wished she would take it, that she would come with me. We could still have that dream of a family and a life together loving each other and sharing joy. She would have given herself to me. There were times when we were so close to that happening that I had to say no because I still had this romantic notion that my wife would be mine on my wedding night. Another dream shattered like all the others. I wanted to create great buildings to leave to the future but ended up building rather ordinary buildings for contracts shoved my way by my future father-in-law. If that police inspector had not visited me four months ago questioning me about those projects and all but accusing me of bribery and kickbacks, I would probably still be doing the same. That opened my eyes to what I had blissfully been ignoring. It didn't take that long once I examined the books and the contracts and realized the discrepancies between costs and contracted prices. For too long, I had ignored the more mundane accounting side of the business and concentrated on the part that I enjoyed. That had been a huge error in judgment. Of course, the biggest revelation had been when I had slipped into Horace's office in his home while visiting Lucille. Her parents weren't home and she needed some time to take care of personal needs. What I found was appalling and likely only the tip of that iceberg. I heard my father tell tales that when you saw a chunk of ice floating on the north Atlantic, you knew there was probably ten times that much hiding below the surface. Ships were wise to give such things a wide berth. I needed to give Horace a wide berth, but it was too late. I was already stuck and had to use force to free myself. I did, but in the process, I hurt a fine woman and broke my dreams into a million shards.

There will be no more thoughts of a loving wife and children in my own home. There will be no firm with my name on it as my reputation is now shattered as well. I sent all those records I had in a large crate to the inspector. My name will now be tied to corruption even if I was part of it without my knowledge. Without a reputation as a reputable architect, there will be no buildings either. All that I had sought to do is now lost. Sadly Lucille's name also will be soiled. I'm sure she had no idea of what her father was doing. She thinks he is a legitimate businessman. It will shock her to find the truth. I hope it does not make her too bitter.

This morning, I sold the carriage as well as most of the possessions I had originally packed thinking to make a new home in the east somewhere. I know now that was an unrealistic plan. I have no other plan, but know that I have to go further west to have any chance at establishing a new life and perhaps creating some new dreams. I have no idea what those might be. I am lost and alone.

Chapter 2

Journal Entry: July 5, 1868

Yesterday was Independence Day, but I do not feel free. I feel lost. Leaving the Ponderosa and my family wasn't easy even though I had dreamed of doing so for many years, and logically I had worked out that it was the one option that made sense. My father was convinced more easily than my brothers, but there was some residual anger in all of them, I think. They had to feel that I was abandoning them. So now, it is unlikely I suppose that they would welcome me back. My father would, I daresay, but what place would I have there? I no longer would be his partner, if I ever was, and I could not tolerate being ordered about. Joe would quite possibly resent my reappearance as it seems he has asserted himself as the second-in-command and could see me as a potential rival. Hoss was hurt that I left and has made a good friend in Candy from what I gather in his letters. He has written that Candy is like a brother to him. Hoss probably doesn't know how those words hurt me. Going back, I would be more the odd man out than I ever was. No, there's no place for me there any more. I can't go home again even if Pa said I would always be welcome to return. It wouldn't work. Leaving Boston wasn't easy but it was a relief to be free of it. Now though, I am more adrift than I have ever been. I have cut my ties to every mooring I ever had, and there's no likely spot on the horizon that I can see as a safe harbor. I suppose I shall wander and wonder and find where my trail leads. It's not a situation that is comfortable for me. I like to plan and be organized, but circumstances have thrust me into this with no place to call home, no plan, and few options unless I travel.

For a few months now, I have been living simply and traveling slowly from place to place spending time in interesting places and finding none that seem suitable to me. Tennessee would be wonderful if I was perhaps twenty years older and ready to use a rocking chair in the evenings and look out over a pastoral scene of horses in my paddocks. It was a nice respite, but my spirit chafed at the nature of it. Chicago was bustling and energetic yet reminded me too much of Boston with so much of the same system in place. The names are different but the men are the same. St. Louis seems trapped in the past and struggling with the needs of the future. It too has many of the same elements I fled in Boston. I think that I'll travel to Denver. It's younger and more vibrant. Perhaps I can find the spark I need there to light a fire. I still feel cold inside even after these months. I feel that I left my heart and soul buried in the rubble of my career and my failed relationship in Boston. I haven't been able to revive either yet. I feel dead inside and find that nothing brings a smile to my face or joy to my heart. I still appreciate beauty in a logical way, but it doesn't move me as it once did. I nod in recognition of it and then move on. I've seen people like me in the past, people who were dead but weren't buried yet because the shell was still functioning even if the important parts had died.

It was the next morning that Adam sealed his journal and packed it away. He had decided that he was getting too morose and self-centered in his writing. He no longer had an outlet to write to others because he had written a letter soon after leaving Boston telling his father that he had left there and ended his relationship with Lucille and thus the impending nuptials. He had said he planned to travel and extolled the virtues of cities such as Paris implying of course that he might visit there. He had no intention of doing so but wanted his father to believe he might so his father wouldn't worry when he didn't hear from him for a long time. He also would have no mailing address so his father would know he couldn't write. The situation might cause some worry and Adam knew it was crass and selfish, but at the time, he simply wanted to go away and lick his wounds without anyone knowing how badly he had been injured by all that had happened. Now though he was not healing because he was letting the wounds fester by writing about the lingering pain in his journal. He decided to stop that and to try to look forward and not back. Knowing it wasn't going to be easy, he accepted the challenge as he had so many already in his life.

After buying a ticket to ride the train to Denver, Adam stopped at a gun store to purchase a pistol rig. He had decided that the pocket pistol he carried wasn't likely to be enough protection and thought that as he ventured into the western regions, he might revert to old habits and would want a reliable weight on his right hip. The owner of the shop looked a bit skeptical when he asked for what he wanted but when he buckled it on and drew a few times, the man nodded. Even rusty as he was, Adam clearly knew how to handle a pistol with ease and his draw was smooth and practiced. He bought some extra ammunition as well although at the time, he wasn't sure why he did it. It was a premonition or what his brother Hoss would have called a gut feeling. He grabbed his bag and headed to the train station for his train was due to depart in two hours.

As Adam neared the platform of the railroad depot, he heard taunting of some men. They were making fun of a rather homely young man who obviously was unable to ignore their comments. His face was getting red and his temper was clearly near the breaking point. About the time Adam arrived, the young man exploded in anger challenging the men to a fight as he stood there with his hand poised above his pistol ready to have a gun fight right there next to the platform. A number of men had been there to watch but scattered then knowing how innocent bystanders were often shot in such a fight especially with such an inexperienced shooter as the young man appeared to be. The men who had been taunting him told him to back off because they didn't want to kill him.

"So you're afraid of me? You're afraid to fight me?"

"Boy, that ain't what we're sayin' cuz anyone of us could take you and will. We're saying we was funnin' with ya and never meant it to be so serious."

"The things you was saying was serious from what I could tell."

"Boy, ya gotta learn to take a little of that 'til you're all growed up, and you ain't ever gonna be that lessen ya back off now."

"Then you'll be calling me a coward too, I suppose. Well, I ain't the coward here. You are. All three of you are yeller."

"Boy, you back off now, or one of us is gonna hafta shoot ya."

"No, coward."

The one who had been talking moved forward then loosening the pistol in the holster in preparation for a draw. He began to move down the steps, and Adam could tell he had probably killed men before this day simply by how calmly he moved. Adam stepped up behind the young man and pulled the pistol from his holster.

"Hey, you had no right to do that."

Putting a hand on the young man's shoulder, Adam spun him around and out of the way. The man who had stepped down from the platform paused.

"This ain't your fight, mister."

Nodding, Adam looked at him and said nothing for a moment. "Nobody needs to die here today." His voice was quiet but had that cold, hard quality that said he meant what he said and could back it up. Dressed like a city slicker, he gave the three men pause, but he pushed his coat back and held it with his left hand, which still held the young man's pistol. On his right side was a pistol rig hanging low and tied down like he knew how to use it.

"He a friend of yours?"

"Nope, just a young fool. I've seen too many of them die for no reason. I'll try to talk some sense into him. If I can't, maybe next time, somebody will kill him."

"Got your work cut out for you with that one."

"I know. Had to do some work with a younger brother like that. Gave me some practice."

The man laughed then. "Guess we have that in common. Good luck to you, and thanks. I didn't really want to kill him."

"Didn't figure you did. He pushed you to it."

"He did."

"Good day to you." Turning then to the young man, Adam pointed down the platform.

"I don't have to do what you say."

Speaking in a whisper that was still powerful, Adam addressed the young man from inches away from his face. "I just saved your life. Every man within hearing distance knows it. If I have to, I'll take you by the collar and the seat of the pants and drag you away from here so you don't ruin the work I've done. Now do you want to walk on your own or have me help you?"

"I'll walk but only because I want to go that way anyway."

During the walk to the end of the platform, Adam said nothing and still said nothing as they reached the end, and he sat on a bench. He didn't give the young man his pistol back though having stuck it in his belt. The young man glanced at him several times and away getting more curious with each minute until he couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Figured you were the one who had something to say."

"Like what?"

Once more, Adam was silent and sat staring out at the railyard saying nothing. Finally the young man had to speak again to break the silence.

"I suppose you think I ought to thank you." Adam didn't respond. "Why aren't you saying anything? I said something to you."

"It wasn't a question and it wasn't a thank you. There wasn't anything for me to say. Still isn't."

"All right, then. Thank you."

"There, now, that wasn't so hard, was it? You're welcome."

"How come you get to talk so smart and I don't?"

"I can back up what I say."

The young man was going to object but stopped before he did knowing how foolish he was going to sound. He waited a moment before he did say something. "You think he woulda killed me?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

"He's killed before, and you never shot at a man before. It wouldn't have been an even fight. He was ready to shoot you. No matter how fast you are, you would have paused. He would have killed you."

"How did you know all that?"

"I'm not nineteen any more."

"Have you killed men?" When Adam didn't answer, the young man frowned. "Is that a question I shouldn't ask?" That got a slight nod. "What do I do the next time somebody gets on me like those men were doing?"

"Ignore them, play along, or do better than they do at it."

"I could never ignore it. They were saying things that no man could ignore."

"The stronger the man, the more he could ignore. If you let words get to you, you give power to the man saying them. By not letting the words get to you, you get stronger than they are. Restraint is power. It gets them upset instead of you."

"I never thought of it that way."

"That's a start. Thinking about things is what you need to do."

"All right then, how do you play along with them?"

"What was the first thing he said to you?"

"He said it looked like my mama must have paired up with a boar to have something that looked like me."

"Then you look him square in the eye, and say 'No, she never knew your pappy, I'm sure of that' or something like it. His friends would have busted out laughing, and he would have had to come up with something better or concede it to you."

"What if he said something even worse to me?"

"If you couldn't do better, you give him a thumbs up that he won."

"That's it."

"Unless the men are drunk, that'll do."

"What if they're drunk?"

"Then you could win the gun fight."

"Oh. But they probably wouldn't want to fight if they're drunk."

"Next lesson: you never know with a drunk so never assume anything."

The train pulled in, people disembarked, and then people began climbing aboard. Adam handed the pistol to the young man, picked up his bag, and headed to the train. The young man followed him.

"Where you going, mister?"

"Denver."

"Me too."

For the next couple of days, Adam guessed he would have a hobby, teaching the young man some survival skills he sorely needed. He hoped enough would sink in that might actually mean the young man could reach his next birthday. It would feel good at least to do something useful. "My name's Adam."

"I'm Thomas, Thomas Carpenter. Most folks call me Tommy, but I prefer Tom."

They found seats and once the train was underway, they started talking.

"Where are you from, Tom?" By the accent, Adam guessed he was going to say Tennessee and wasn't disappointed. "Why are you leaving?"

"I want to go out west and be a cowboy. I'm tired of training horses for somebody else to ride. I want my own horse and I want to ride horses in my job."

"You trained horses?"

"Since I was about ten years old, I've been working on a horse farm. I started by mucking out stables and grooming and taking care of the foals. As I got older, I helped the horses get used to a saddle. I was light so they weren't as bothered by me as by a man on them. Then eventually I trained them to do whatever they wanted them to do. But every time I trained one, they'd take that one away and sell it just when I was really getting to like it, ya know. I'd go to horse shows and help pick out which horses to buy. I liked doing anything with horses."

"Listen, when we're in Denver, you're going to show me how well you know horses by picking out one to buy. If you do it well enough, I'll buy that horse for you and send both of you to Virginia City, Nevada."

"Why would you do that?"

"There's a ranch out there called the Ponderosa. If what you say is true, Joe Cartwright would hire you especially if you ride in on a horse that shows you know a great horse when you see one."

"I mean it: why would you do that?"

"I have my reasons. You only have to keep my part in this secret if it happens. Deal?"

Pausing because it seemed too good to be true, Tom finally agreed. "Deal!"

"I'll need to go to a bank in Denver to get some funds when we get there, and then we can go look at some horses. I don't want you getting in any more trouble before I have a chance to send you off to Nevada."

But Adam knew things don't always work out the way you plan them, and this had been a spur of the moment kind of plan. For the rest of the trip, they mostly talked about horses although Adam did find that there was a lot of advice about living in the west that he was able to give the young man. He hoped he could remember enough of it to stay safe.

As they left the train in Denver, the three men who had given the young man a hard time got off too. They carried their saddles and gear and looked like they were headed out to look for work probably. Adam and Tom tipped their hats to the three. The one of the three who seemed to do the most talking offered Tom some advice.

"Boy, be careful not to walk in any shit out here and mess up them fancy new boots of yours and your pretty new clothes."

"No, sir, I won't. I'll stay as far off to the side of you as I can, sir."

Adam did his best not to smile as the two men with the loudmouth burst into laughter, and he stood with his mouth open for a while before looking at Adam.

"Ya done good with 'im." He turned his attention to Tom next. "Boy, you're gonna be all right." Then the three turned and walked off.

"It worked."

Adam did smile then. It felt good to do something worthwhile for a change.

Chapter 3

As Adam left the station with Tom, he didn't ask directions but headed to the bank where he had sent money ahead in anticipation of spending some time in the city. As he walked with confidence toward his destination, Tom walked with him but couldn't contain his curiosity.

"You've been here before, huh?" Adam didn't answer thinking that answer was obvious. "Why didn't you tell me you'd been here before?"

"Why would I need to tell you something like that?"

"I dunno. Just seems like you coulda told me."

"I could have told you a lot of things. I told you what you needed to know. There were a lot of things far more important for you to know than my life history, and in fact, there is no reason whatsoever for me to tell you about my past."

"But you asked me about mine."

"I needed to know."

"But I don't need to know nothing about you?"

"That's right."

"It don't seem right to me."

"You haven't thought about it yet."

"How do you know I haven't?" Adam said nothing, and Tom couldn't argue with him because he was correct. Tom thought about what he had said as they walked to the bank. Adam said only one thing on that walk and that was to shift his bag from his right hand to his left. Tom was going to ask why, but thought better about the question thinking instead about why Adam had told him to do it. When they reached the bank that Adam wanted to enter, he paused and looked at Tom wondering if the young man was ready to say anything. Tom got the silent message.

"You told me to switch hands so my gun hand would be free in case I needed it. I suppose I should always keep that in mind, and it keeps my gun hand from getting too stiff or tired too. It don't matter that much if my left hand is stiff and tired." Adam waited to see if there was more. Tom shrugged a little and sheepishly admitted the rest. "And you asked about me 'cause you was thinking on getting me that horse and sending me to that ranch for a job."

As they walked into the bank, Tom had another question. "Are you always so in control of yourself, you know, watching what you say and do and such?"

"I try to be because when I'm not, I make mistakes." And right about then, Adam knew he had made one, but later couldn't think of how he could have avoided it either. There were no telltale signs of what was happening until they passed through the vestibule and into the bank itself. Then he heard the distinct click of a pistol being cocked and saw the scared faces of the two bank tellers standing rigidly at their stations. A voice behind them froze them in place too.

"Now you two boys just stop right there and drop those bags and then your weapons so nobody gets hurt. We don't want to shoot nobody now, do we, Roy?"

Next to the safe, a second man turned around with a pistol in his hand as another man, presumably the bank manager, filled a bag with money. "No, we certainly don't, but we might have to now that you used my name."

Both Adam and Tom had dropped their bags and moved to untie their holsters from their legs. Adam sensed as much as saw Tom stop that and straighten a bit, and he knew what the young man was going to do before he did it. Mentally he swore but had no choice but to do the same as Tom planned to do drawing his pistol and firing at the man by the safe. Then he swirled around and shot the man behind them who had the most shocked expression on his face as he fell. He had never thought that two men would draw on them when he and his partner already had their pistols out and cocked. That overconfidence had cost him his life. The one by the safe was still alive but badly wounded. Tom had his pistol out but hadn't fired yet. He stared at Adam as if looking at a miracle that had occurred.

"You shot both of them."

"I had to. You were going to draw on them and get us both killed otherwise."

"But you hit both of them."

"You're lucky I've had a few months to practice with a little pistol I had. I was rusty and wouldn't have been able to do it except for that."

People were crowding into the bank by then including a marshal and various others. Those there in an official capacity quickly took charge and got the curious escorted back outside. The marshal stepped over to look at the dead man after talking to the bank manager and the two clerks and then approached Adam.

"They say you shot both of them and stopped the robbery."

"I did."

"Wells Fargo has been anxious to get these two apprehended although what you did was a bit more final than they expected. The one by the safe there isn't going to make it either. He's shot in the gut, and it's not common for men with wounds like that to survive. There's a bounty on each of these men. You can fill out the paperwork in my office. The money should be here within a short time."

"I don't need the money."

"You earned it."

"I don't want any money for killing two men."

Taking the measure of the man for only a moment longer, the marshal nodded. "My name's Jim Warner. I've got a family and a house here in town. I'd be pleased to have you to dinner tonight and welcome you to Denver."

"Marshals must be getting paid better than I remember."

"Wells Fargo will send me a stipend for expenses for cleaning this one up for them. I'll add dinner to the cost of burying these two. They won't mind a bit especially as you won't be taking the reward money."

With a grin, Adam accepted and got directions to the man's house. He said he and Tom had an errand to run and then he was getting a room, but Tom might be leaving by day's end. Adam said he would explain at dinner and got a knowing look from the marshal who had been around and had some idea of what had happened in the bank after talking with the two tellers. He looked forward to hearing the story from the man dressed in black who had turned out to be the hero of this day's events. After he left, Tom had another question.

"Why am I going to leave today already?"

"Tom, I've known you only a few days, and I've had to save you from getting killed twice. I don't want to turn it into a full-time job."

If he wasn't so tanned by his previous occupation, Tom would probably have been blushing by the embarrassment that comment caused because he knew it was true. Adam simply slapped him on the shoulder and said he still needed to withdraw some funds so they could do what he had promised they were going to do. The tellers were more than happy to help him stumbling over each other to be the one to help him. With the money in his pocket, he headed out with Tom to see about buying a horse. He wanted it to be one that would impress Joe, and if Tom could pick one out, then he would be sending Joe two prizes. When they got to the stable, Adam had Tom tell the livery owner that he wanted to buy a good horse. Then Adam observed as Tom evaluated the horses the man brought out. He told the man that the first one was too old despite the man's claim that it was a three-year-old and told him the second one couldn't fully straighten his back legs so he would never run right. Frustrated with the poor quality of the horses he saw, he was ready to give up and leave when Adam intervened.

"You've wasted a lot of our time. If you don't have a good horse to sell, tell us now so we can go to another stable. Otherwise bring out something worth buying."

Knowing he had been bested by men who knew horses even if one was hardly more than a boy and the other one looked like a city slicker, the liveryman brought out three fine horses then. Tom walked among them checking them out. He looked over at Adam.

"The gelding has been used hard, but he's a fine horse and maybe the best one here. He might have a problem though if anyone spurs him or comes at him hard. He's been abused. The black has a lot of spirit, but he's a head tosser and looks like the kind who won't take commands easily until he accepts a rider as his master. He'll be a one-man kind of horse. He's likely to offer good stud service though and his get could improve stock in any string. The mare is sound and sturdy stuff with good spirit and she's smart. She'll take any kind of terrain or weather. She could produce some strong offspring too to improve a herd. Which one is likely going to help me most where I'm going?"

"You'll probably do best with the mare as your horse. I'll take the black. I'll need a standard western saddle for the mare and basic tack."

"What about the black?"

"I'll be back with gear for him in a few days. I'll pay for you to board him until I need him. How much for all of that?"

For a few minutes, Adam and the liveryman bargained the price until both were satisfied. Then Adam helped Tom get the saddle on the mare and they walked back to the train station where Adam bought passage for both to Virginia City telling him where he would need to change trains in order to get there. He told him how to make contact with the Ponderosa when he got there and reminded him not to mention his name.

"Well, they're gonna want to know who sent me."

"Tell them it's an old friend of the family from years ago and you never did know much about him, but he knew about you and thought you and the Ponderosa would be a good match."

There wasn't much more to say about that so the two men loaded the mare on the train. With his experience in Tennessee, Tom had loaded horses into boxcars before and got his horse safely up the ramp without trouble. He seemed so happy that Adam had to smile to see him so. It was infectious, and he realized it was the first time he had truly smiled in over six months. He had not had any reason to be happy about anything enough to smile without reservation in that time. He had killed two men that day though and the realization of that made the smile fade.

"Somebody step on your grave or something?"

"What?"

"Well, you was smiling and then you got this look like you have sometimes like you're going to a funeral 'cept it looks like it could be your own."

"Sorry, I was thinking of things."

"The men you shot today."

"I didn't only shoot them. I killed them. It's a heavy load to bear."

"But they woulda killed us if they coulda."

"Yes, but ending a life is still something no man should ever have to do. It happens all too often though."

"At least you did it for the right reasons. They woulda done it for greed."

"We're all greedy. We were greedy for life. They wanted money."

"Yeah, maybe, but we got a right to the one, and they didn't have a right to the other. Makes all the difference that's needed far as I can see."

"Tom, you have a natural philosophy within you. You're going to fit in well at the Ponderosa. Good luck to you."

"Thanks, Adam. How can I ever repay you for what you done for me?"

"You've already paid me."

"Huh?"

"You helped me find my way back to where I needed to be."

"I don't understand."

"That's all right. I tried an experiment of finding pleasure in good and fine things and satisfaction in doing work I wanted to do, but it was all smoke, there was nothing there. Without doing for others, there is no substance."

"That sounds a little like something from Ecclesiastes that I remember the preacher talkin' about once. It's hard to remember. He liked to talk for two hours at a time, and by the time he finished I forgot usually everything he said except maybe for the beginning and the last part."

"I remember having such a discussion with my father who didn't appreciate my logic. If the minister wanted to have a greater impact, he should make one point, hammer it home, and then let everyone think about that instead of talking about so many things that people forget most of them. He has a different opinion of sermons than I do. But yes, that was loosely based on Ecclesiastes, which had advice I should have heeded. Mistakes are usually called experience. I've had lots of experience so far in my life."

Tom wanted to argue with him but didn't know enough to do that. Instead, he wisely remained silent causing Adam to have one of those hints of a smile that showed an inner amusement at events. He wished Tom well when he saw the conductor pulling in the steps indicating the train was about to pull out. The young man stepped up on the back of the car and waved as the train began to slowly roll away. Watching him go, Adam was a little envious of the young man in his innocence with so many opportunities and so many years to pursue them. He felt doors closing already and time starting to limit his options. He shook himself to rid himself of the negative energy and began the walk back to his hotel. He had decided to do more walking though he generally disliked the activity. All that time working in Boston had made him soft in comparison to what he needed to be if he was going to live in the west again. He pushed himself to walk a bit faster as he thought about that. Once back at the hotel, Adam stretched out on the bed for a short nap that turned into a long nap free of the bad dreams he had been having. Instead he dreamed of tall pines and blue skies and mountains that touched the sky. When he woke, he realized he was probably going to be late to dinner and rushed down the stairs at the hotel hailing a carriage and telling the driver to rush. He paid him well and walked up the walk to the modest home ready to apologize profusely for being late. Instead, he was hailed from behind by the marshal who apparently was running further behind schedule than he was.

"Hey, Adam, don't get there before I do or I'll be in even more hot water than I already am. I got tied up in another mess at the office. I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you, but now we can go in together. She won't be able to say too much to me with you there, and maybe by the time you leave, she'll have forgiven me my tardiness."

"Well, Jim, that seems fair enough as you will be saving me from having to excuse my late arrival as well."

Once inside the house, Jim introduced Adam to Belinda who was suitably impressed by the dark handsome man with the impeccable manners and blushed at his compliments for her home and for her. She hadn't heard so many flowery words since Jim had courted her five years earlier. When she went back to the kitchen to bring out the meal, she was smiling and seemed to walk with a lighter step. Jim looked over at Adam.

"Maybe I have a job for you if you're interested. You could be my deputy and come home to dinner every time I'm late. That was real smooth."

"She's quite a pretty lady and very nice."

"Don't go getting any ideas. She's taken. We got a young one upstairs sleeping by now and another on the way."

"A lawman with a family: that seems unusual."

"It's not so unusual. Maybe you've been gone a while, but things are settling down. Most of the time, I'm working with banks on fraud cases or I'm working against banks who try to defraud. It's rare that I get into violent situations. Bank robberies get a lot of notice but are really rather rare. Embezzlement or plain theft is more common a problem."

Belinda came in with dinner and told them to stop talking business. She tried to get Adam to talk about himself during dinner, but Jim noted how deftly Adam evaded all of those queries and turned the attention back to Belinda, the children, Jim, or Denver. By the end of the meal when Belinda went to clean up, they knew little more about Adam than they knew when they had first met him.

"You're quite good at evasion and distraction."

"My father always said that too. Made him upset with me."

"I could come right out and ask you questions, I suppose."

"You could, and then I could ask you why you need to know anything about me."

"And there you go again."

"I think we already established that. Now, why don't we talk about your job. What kind of work have you been doing or what kind of mess made you late today. Surely that's not a taboo subject."

"No, it's not taboo, but Belinda isn't going to like it at all. I have to go to Nevada and California. Seems that some banks have been colluding to defraud customers and foreclose on properties out there. I'll have to head out there to try to help clean up the mess before too many more ranchers lose their ranches. Soon the banks are going to be the biggest landholders in Nevada by the way things are going. I can't do anything about the ones who have already lost their property, but maybe I can stop the practice before any more get drawn into bad deals."

Perking up at the mention of Nevada, Adam had a foreboding that grew with every word Jim spoke. He had warned his father for many years to break the Ponderosa in multiple legal entities for purposes of securing loans so he wouldn't risk the whole when the loan was for a fraction of the total worth. He doubted that his father had taken his advice in his absence, and feared the possibility that his father had been caught in this banking scheme.

"Maybe I'll go with you to Nevada. I haven't been there in a long time. What city do you plan to go to first?"

"Carson City will be my first and probably only stop. Then I'll head to Sacramento. I was serious about offering you a job too. I can tell you're educated. I know you can handle yourself in a crisis. I could use a man like you by my side."

"Sorry, but I don't need a job. I don't know what I want to do right now, but being a deputy marshal wasn't on my list of possibilities."

"That's too bad, but I will welcome the company on the trip. I'm leaving on the morning train if you want to join me. I already have my fare paid. You might want to buy yours tonight yet to be sure you have a spot. The morning train fills up faster than the night train."

After bidding Jim and Belinda a good evening, Adam headed to the livery stable to pay for a few weeks of boarding his black horse, went to the train station to buy his fare, and then to the hotel to tell them he was leaving the next morning, but he paid to have them hold most of his belongings in storage until he returned. He told them he guessed he would be back within a couple of weeks at most but perhaps in less for he thought it could take that long to find out what he needed to know and to do something about it if he had to do anything. Then he asked them to wake him if he wasn't downstairs by six before he went to his room for another night of troubled sleep, but this time, he worried about his family and not himself.

Chapter 4

In Nevada

Sitting at his desk with his brow furrowed, Ben Cartwright didn't know what worried him more at the moment. He hadn't heard from Adam in months and knew he wouldn't likely hear from him in a long time. Worried about him for many reasons especially knowing how he could brood about things, Ben wished he had come home after all the trouble he had and after breaking his engagement to Lucille. Ben didn't know all that had happened, but he had gotten hold of some newspaper accounts of investigations that had landed Lucille's father in jail facing charges of bribery and fraud. Adam's name had been mentioned prominently in those accounts and there were hints that his absence indicated some guilt on his part. Ben knew that could not be true, but he did wonder why Adam had left. He guessed that the scandal was why his engagement to Lucille had ended as well but wished he could be there to help Adam with facing yet another loss.

However Ben was worried too about what had happened recently to two of their neighbors. They had made loans against their ranches and those loans had been called. Unable to pay the loan, they had lost their ranches to foreclosure. Ben had a fifty thousand dollar loan outstanding for an expansion of their timber and lumber operation that had been necessary to meet some lucrative contract. Within six months, the ranch could easily produce enough income to pay that loan if called or he could secure other loans, but they were vulnerable at the moment. If that loan got called any time in the next few months, Ben didn't know how it would be possible to pay the principal amount. He was going to have to admit to his sons what he had done, and that was going to be the hardest part. He had put the ranch, their heritage, at risk.

"What's up, Pa? You wanted to talk to us?"

Hoss and Joe came in from working summoned by a ranch hand that Ben had sent to get them. Spreading out a few newspapers on the desk with the headlines about the called loans and the foreclosures, Ben wanted them to know the subject of the conversation right from the start.

"Sure, Pa, Hoss and I knew about those. Heck, everybody knows about them. It's a different kind of bank robbery where the banks are robbing the customers, but what can we do about it?"

"Joe, it is that. But what I need to tell you is what I did. In order to get those big contracts, we had to do a lot of expanding of our operations."

"Ya, Pa, we all said to go ahead and do it. Why is that a problem now?"

"Because I took a loan to do it."

"But, Pa, in a couple of months, we'll pay that loan off and have plenty to spare. Those are the best contracts we've had in years. With the timber going to the mines like usual, the cattle drive, the contract with the Army for horses, and those real good contracts with the railroads, we'll do better than we ever done."

"In months, yes, that's probably true, but Hoss, what if they call the loan now?"

"Ah, they cain't do that, can they?"

"I'm afraid that with the way things have been going, and with no laws to stop them, they can. It's happened to others, and their ranches were far less attractive a prize than ours."

"Pa, you're really worried, aren't you?"

"Yes, Joe, I am. I don't see a way out of this."

"Can't we go get another loan from a different bank to pay off that first loan?"

"Joe, I wish we could, but I checked with our lawyer. Because I used the Ponderosa as collateral for the first loan, I can't use it for another loan. I should have done what Adam told me to do years ago and split the ranch into parts for purposes of a loan. Now it's too late. I gambled and lost."

"Pa, they ain't called it yet, have they?"

Ben pushed a note across the desk then. Joe opened it and read it before handing it to Hoss who read it out loud. It summoned Ben to the bank for a meeting the next day. Undoubtedly they were going to call the loan. The typical message was that they would have a week to come up with the money or forfeit the collateral. In this case, the bank would foreclose on the Ponderosa and there would be nothing they could do about it.

"Pa, what would we own if they took the ranch?"

"Technically, our personal property in the house, our horses, and the herds. I checked with our lawyer. The loan specifically refers to the ranch and describes the property but makes no mention of the animals. We could still take those and sell them. That would be it."

"Dadburnit, it's done then. We're likely gonna lose it all?"

"Unless we can think of a way out of this mess, I'm afraid we could."

"I wish Adam hadn't run off. We could use his help about now."

"Joe, that's not fair. What could Adam do that we can't do, and he has his own demons at the moment."

"I suppose, but it would feel better if we were all together at least to face this."

"He'd probably feel a heap better too ifn he was here with somebody to lean on a bit to help take some of the load."

"He was good at leaning, wasn't he?"

"Bet he still is."

The light moment helped but only briefly as the three men thought about what they might do about the loan and could think of no solutions. In Carson City, Adam was dressed in his city slicker clothing and had a fine short full beard obscuring his features. He was finding out some information that led him to the same conclusions his father had reached. The difference was that he had a solution although it was complex and required him to use all of his resources. It wasn't going to be easy to do, and he was going to have to walk a legal tightrope, but he knew it could be done. He owned shares in the bank that had his father's loan. He went to a broker's office and significantly increased that investment until he had enough shares to deserve a position on the board of directors of the bank. Then he went to the branch bank in Carson City and talked to the manager of the bank there telling him what he wanted. The man didn't like it, and as soon as Adam left, he hurried to the telegraph office to send a message to the home bank. Adam went to the telegraph office after he left and for a hefty tip got the copy of the message that had been sent. He smiled for it was about what he suspected, but now he had the name of the man he needed to know. He sent a message to the same man, and took his name for Jim to use. Then he went to the offices of the railroad company and talked to the manager there who was in charge of construction projects. Within a few hours, he had made a deal there too for a hefty fee and a significant investment as well.

That evening, Adam met Jim for dinner. While Adam was relaxed and sported a slight smile, Jim was frustrated and angry having had no luck with any of the agencies or officials with whom he had met that day. Adam handed him the name of the bank official he had gotten.

"Who's this?"

"The man who's behind calling the loans."

"How do you know this?"

"Probably best if I don't tell you how I found out. He'll likely be sending me a message though, and I can share it with you tomorrow."

"You're doing something devious. It's not illegal, is it?"

"No, not quite, but shady enough that you shouldn't be part of it. It's not for me, but it will thwart their plans to take over a big ranch here."

"The Ponderosa? I heard that they've targeted it. The people over at the capital expect it to happen soon."

"It's not going to happen."

"You seem rather sure of yourself."

"I worked with bigger crooks than this in Boston. These men aren't in the same league. At least, they aren't yet. You do your job, and maybe they'll never get there. I hope not. There's not a city in the east that isn't rife with corruption."

"Is that why you came back home?"

Crooking one eyebrow at him, Adam said nothing.

"All right, I won't say any more, but you grew that beard over the last two days and you're keeping to the shadows as much as any man I've ever seen who didn't want to be recognized. Your reasons are your own, but I would like to be your friend. Maybe someday, you can tell me why it's all a big secret."

No more was said about any of that. Jim spent a few more days in Carson City before heading to Sacramento and the other end of the ring. Adam spent those days in Carson City wrapping up his business, and he headed back to Denver when Jim headed out to California. Jim asked Adam to let Belinda know he was all right and that things were peaceful. Adam promised he would watch out for Belinda until Jim returned.

While Adam was working his scheme in Carson City, Ben rode into Virginia City with Hoss and Joe. They went to the bank like they were going to a funeral expecting to mourn their loss and not knowing what they could do about it. At the bank, they got a big surprise. The manager called them into his office where they met with the man from the home bank. They had expected as much but what he said shocked them.

"We were prepared to call your loan, but now that you have such a large balance in your account, there is no purpose to that action. If you would like to make a significant payment, that would be sufficient. You can otherwise make payments on the loan according to the agreement until the loan is paid."

"I don't understand. What large balance?"

The bank manager who had been a friend of the family for a long time was relieved to be able to tell Ben the news. "Don't you know, Ben? The railroad paid the contracts to you in advance and in full. You have over thirty thousand dollars in your Ponderosa account."

Speechless, Ben said nothing. He had never heard of the railroad doing such a thing. Joe had negotiated contracts since Adam had left and in his experience, nothing like that was ever done. He too had nothing to say. Hoss was exuberant though.

"Hot diggity! We ain't gonna lose the ranch after all. Hey, Pa, you was all fired worried for nothing. Let's pay them a bunch so we don't hafta worry no more, and then we can go get us a big ole steak for lunch and celebrate."

"We still have to meet those contracts, Hoss. Maybe we ought to head home to work instead."

Except by then, Ben was grinning so widely that Hoss knew he was kidding him. Joe was grinning too. The only one not smiling was the man from the home bank. His plans had gone up in smoke and he knew his boss was very upset wondering how anyone had done this to them. There was a marshal on his way to Sacramento who had already requested a meeting with his boss. Things had gone sour very fast, and they were going to have to go back to legitimate banking at least until they could figure out a way around these new obstacles if they ever could. The bank had a new investor too, or rather an old investor who had bought up more shares so that now he was a major holder on par with the top owners. Everyone was wondering who he was and knew they had to watch their backs because this could be a government man or someone with ties to the government. It made all of them nervous, and nervous men wouldn't be willing to break any laws. Adam would have been pleased to know how his investment alone was having a positive effect.

As Adam traveled back to Denver, he opened up his small business ledger and tallied up where he had put his funds and spent others. By the time he finished and looked at the bottom line, he whistled softly to himself. He had a small fortune when he left Boston and could likely have lived most of the rest of his life on it had he chosen to do so and lived reasonably frugally. However, now those funds were reduced to a level that required that he seek a source of income within a few months. He was still wealthy on paper, but those investments weren't going to put money in his pocket for some time yet. He leaned back in the seat staring out the window at the scenery as the train rolled on its way to Denver. He looked at the land but didn't see anything because his thoughts were directed inward. Once more he wondered what he was going to do with the rest of his life.

On the Ponderosa, Joe met a young man who rode in a fine looking mare and asked for a job. His timing couldn't have been better. Joe had an Army contract to meet and needed men to work with the horses to finish their training after they were broken to the saddle. A short time talking with Tom and seeing what he could do, and Joe was thrilled to have him there.

"What brought you all the way from Tennessee to the Ponderosa, Tom?"

"A man I met along the way said he was an old friend of your family and he said you might have a job for me."

"What was the man's name?"

"He didn't say much about himself. Mostly he asked about me and talked about you and how you loved horses and seeing as how I love horses too, he said maybe you'd like me to work for you. It seemed like a good idea."

"That horse you have there. I'd like to put her with one of my stallions if you wouldn't mind and see what kind of foal we could get from her."

"I'd like that too. I think she'd produce some fine horses. I'd like to see her offspring too."

"Great! Once we get done with this contract, we've got a big cattle drive coming up. We'll need help with the remuda. I think you're the man for that job."

"Great! What's a remuda?"

Laughing then, Joe liked Tom's enthusiasm and his honesty. He spent the next few weeks working with him and explaining how a ranch worked as well as what a cattle drive was and what the needs of the men were for horses. The first night out on the cattle drive, the men decided to test the new man a little. Candy was the first. He looked over at Tom with his homely looks. Tom saw him staring.

"Something wrong, Candy?"

"Nah, Tom, nothing that can be fixed. I reckon though that your mama must have eaten some really sour food before having you."

Tom swallowed the food he had been chewing and calmly responded. "Nah, Candy, my mama never ate none of your mama's cooking."

Hoss started laughing so hard at that and the look on Candy's face that he spit out the food he had in his mouth. That and what Tom had said got everyone laughing. Tom calmly ate the rest of his food and waited to see if there was going to be anything else said. When Hoss got control of himself again, he wiped his eyes and smiled at Candy and the others.

"Dang, if that didn't sound just like something my brother Adam woulda said. He woulda said it just that quiet like too. Tom, that was a good one, a real good one."

Nodding in agreement, Tom was thinking too. Hoss had surprised him when he mentioned that he had a brother named Adam. Tom had a strong suspicion he had met the man. He told the others he was going to check on the horses before turning in. One of the young men followed him to the rope line, and Joe went to check on Cochise who had seemed to be favoring one leg that day. He heard the two younger men talking.

"Tom, how'd you do that. I mean, how'd you not get mad at them picking on your mama like that. When they did it to me, I got mad and well, it didn't go too well for me. Now you, you got them all to say what a good job ya done."

"Man taught me that not too long ago. He said ifn I let a man's words control me, then he has power over me. He said I was stronger ifn I could let the words go by and not let them hit me so hard. He said restraint is power. So I took a little time to think about what Candy said and just sent them words back at 'im."

"They told me I looked like a horse's behind."

Tom paused, frowned for a minute before grinning. "Well that's better than looking like what comes outta one."

The two young men laughed then and began trying out other lines. Joe finished checking on Cochise and walked back to camp deep in thought. Hoss noticed him looking very serious.

"Cochise all right?"

"Yeah, Cooch is fine. Say, Hoss, that new guy, Tom. He remind you of anyone?"

"No, nobody I can think of. Why?"

"I don't know, but like you said when we were eating. What he said to Candy and how he said it sounded just like Adam. I just heard him telling Mike that 'Restraint is power' and I can't remember how many times Adam told me that when he was trying to get me to think before talking."

"Yeah, that does sound a little like Adam, but that's only a couple of things."

"Tom said an old friend of the family said he'd probably fit in real well here because he loved horses just like I did. Not that many people know that except for people around here."

"That is kind of funny. It does kind of make ya wonder. You ask Tom about it?"

"I asked him the name of the old friend, and he said the man didn't say much about himself. He never said anything about him at all."

"That's a lot like Adam too. Maybe sometime we can get Tom to have a beer or two and maybe he'll talk to us about this old friend of the family."

"Yeah, maybe. It could be interesting."

Chapter 5

When Adam got back to Denver, he made a trip to Jim's house before he went to the hotel. He let Belinda know that Jim was fine and that he was in California doing some investigation mainly through talking with officials and looking through paperwork. That reassured her quite a bit. She invited Adam to stay for dinner and talk about his trip. He did and enjoyed the chance to spend some time in a normal setting away from any worries. Over the next week and several more dinners as he checked on her to make sure she was all right, he opened up a bit to her about what had happened in Boston without revealing any names and realized that he wanted to talk about it even though what had happened couldn't be changed. He knew too that she would tell Jim anything he told her. Married couples were like that, but he trusted that neither would tell anyone else. However if he was in any legal jeopardy because of what had happened, Jim was going to be duty bound to do something about it. He had not yet told them his last name, but he knew that Jim had probably guessed who he was by this time. When Jim returned two weeks later, he tracked Adam down to talk to him. He found him living at a boarding house.

"You should go home. You never really left."

"What do you know about it?"

"I figured out what you did, or mostly I figured it out. I'm not sure about the specifics, but I know the big picture of what you did."

"And what is it that you think I did?"

"You don't have to play coy with me. I have access to a lot of records. Two large deposits were made to the Ponderosa account shortly before their loan was going to be called. There was no point to it then because they could have paid it off. Another interesting development was that someone bought up all available shares in the bank that was going to call the loan. It has made the whole board of directors there scared and looking over their shoulders wondering who holds all those shares now and if it could be someone with government connections. The next meeting could be very interesting. The current chairman of the board is resigning due to health reasons apparently. Seems he has developed a case of nerves that won't go away. Might you have something to do with that too and how is it that they don't know who bought up all those shares?"

"I formed a company to make investments many years ago. I also used it when I did some engineering work and had payments made to me through that company. I checked. It's still valid in Nevada. I used it to buy up those shares. They will have a heck of a time though finding the records as to who started up that company that many years ago if they even exist any more."

"You're rather sneaky."

"I have a brother who said that about me."

"And you haven't really answered my main questions and offered any information I couldn't have found out myself."

"I didn't do anything illegal."

"Well I don't know what you did, but you did make my job easier. There aren't any loans being called. There's too much attention now and the state legislatures have taken up the issue. By year's end, there should be some safeguards in place."

"Then all's well that end's well."

"There was a warrant out for you."

Startled, Adam had no response to that wondering what Jim would say next.

"It was a witness warrant for some big mess in Boston. It's not valid any more. It's been withdrawn. Seems they managed to prosecute the case without the key witness."

"The key witness wouldn't have survived being there to testify."

"Marshals can protect witnesses."

"Jim, you don't know Boston."

"You think you were in that much danger? You seem to be able to handle yourself pretty well."

"No one can handle what they can't see coming. I sent all the records I had to the authorities. If they wanted to prosecute, they had all the evidence they needed."

"Then why did they put out a witness warrant for you?" Realization hit Jim almost as soon as he finished asking the question. "That level of corruption is almost too much to believe. They corrupted the marshals' service there? They wanted us to find you to send you back so they could eliminate you."

"Yes, eliminate me, then eliminate the evidence. Without me, they could claim the rest was a fraud. They may not have corrupted the marshals service. It could be that the marshals think they were doing a legal errand, but with all the others they have bought including judges and prosecutors, it would be difficult to be sure of anyone."

"But you weren't there and they could still claim it was a fraud."

"I wrote a letter when I sent the records. I said if they weren't used in court, I might contact the newspapers with the originals and let them do an expose on why the justice system in Boston was corrupt."

"Clever, but you never had any originals, did you, so that was a lie?"

"I said 'might' and never specified what the originals were so it wasn't actually a lie but an exaggeration from which they made assumptions. I could produce enough records to make a mess of things for them though. They probably know that."

"Which you knew they would know. I'm kinda getting a better idea of how you worked things in Nevada. You got them chasing their own tails at the bank, but how did you get the railroad to advance the money for those contracts?"

"I invested that amount in their project which will pay off well eventually, I hope, and invested more in the railroad itself. I also greased the way with some well placed honorariums for help given."

"You bribed people."

"Not to do anything illegal. Everyone benefited. The railroad companies are in better shape, and the Ponderosa stays in the hands of the family that built it."

"Like I said. You should go home. Your heart is still there."

"I can't. There's no place for me there any more."

"I think you're too proud to go back. You don't want to tell them what happened in Boston. I'm guessing there's even more to it than I know."

Looking a little sheepish then, Adam admitted he had talked with Belinda about some of what had happened including his failed relationship with Lucille and what worried him still. Jim only smiled softly on hearing that.

"Yeah, after she met you, she told me that she figured you had a sad story to tell. She said you had sad eyes. Look, you've lost your way a little bit. Families understand how that can happen. But do you actually think they would come after you all the way out here? That's a long way to come for revenge."

"It is, and the longer I go with no one coming after me, the more I can relax and think they'll never come, but until then, I don't want to bring that kind of trouble down on anyone."

"So, what are you going to do next?"

"You offered me a job once, and I turned you down. As it turns out, I need a job now, but not as your deputy and not checking over bank records and studying paperwork." Lifting his vest, Adam showed the marshal's badge pinned to his shirt.

"So you aren't going home yet?"

"I applied to the marshals' service and they accepted me. For now, I'll be working this region apprehending fugitives and providing security for railroads and any visiting dignitaries. I'm to assist you as needed."

"And I guess when I get to the office, I'll probably have a letter saying I'm to assist you as needed. You don't know the territory around here so you're going to need some help. I'll introduce you to the men I've hired to guide me a few times."

"Thank you. That will help. Oh, and Jim, as to your office, we're supposed to share it, but don't worry too much. I won't take up much room."

"With the jobs you have, you may not be there that much. The man who had that job last wasn't in town much."

"What happened to him?" Jim's silence was answer enough. "I'll be more careful than he was. What happened?"

"He got ambushed. Adam, one of the worst duties you'll have is escorting a prisoner. Their partners and families often don't like where they're going and knowing that it's only one or two of you taking him somewhere seems to make them bolder in what they're willing to try. We do our best to keep our plans secret and often leave at night, but no matter how well we plan, sooner or later, we're bound to make a mistake. It only takes one."

"What mistake did he make?"

"We'll never know. We found his body about a week after he was overdue to arrive here with a prisoner. There wasn't much left of him, and no sign of what had happened other than he was shot. That's about all we could tell. Bullet shattered a bone in his arm. He may have been shot more than once. Heck, he probably was. I hope he was. Hard to think of him dying alone and slow out there."

"It can be a hard life."

"It can be. It's why I chose this part of it. I rarely ever have to use my weapon or even think about using it. Mostly I work with agents of the Treasury Department and work cases involving problems with the banks and sometimes with the railroads. About the toughest jobs I do there involve riding guard on valuable shipments or transfers of big sums of cash. You'll probably be helping with those too."

For the next couple of months, life was rather routine for Adam and Jim doing those jobs that Jim had outlined as the usual responsibilities of their employment. They rode trains guarding shipments of money printed at the mint in Denver. They guarded shipments of gold and silver going to the Treasury Department passing the responsibility over to other agents in St. Louis. Occasionally they were called upon to assist a Senator with security at an official function. A few times when Adam had no other duties, he helped Jim with his work. On his off duty time, Adam got to enjoy the plays and other entertainment offered in Denver. He usually attended such presentations alone as he resisted all of Belinda's attempts at matchmaking.

Most of his days were spent working in the office with Jim when he wasn't sent out on a job escorting a prisoner. He only had a couple of those and they were without incident. He also had a few rides on trains by himself watching for any suspicious behavior and never detected any. Most new assignment arrived by telegram. Therefore he wasn't surprised to get one sending him to Cripple Creek to pick up a prisoner to escort to Denver for trial. It sounded very routine, but he hadn't been to Cripple Creek yet.

"I've heard of it, of course, but where is it?"

"Hard to give directions to get there. Your best bet is to hire Delbert again. He's a good guide and a handy gun hand too if you need him. He stays pretty calm under pressure."

"I haven't had any problems so far."

"You never know when it could happen. Maybe this man has friends in Cripple Creek. They could follow you to free their friend. It's that kind of thing you have to watch for."

"All right. I'll go find Del, and I'll see you when we get back with the prisoner."

Jim wished him well and knew Belinda was going to be disappointed. That morning, she had mentioned another woman that she thought might interest Adam and was going to try to invite her to dinner and then of course invite Adam too. Now that whole plan of hers for matchmaking for their friend was going to be put on hold again.

However on the Ponderosa, matchmaking wasn't necessary for Joe who had proposed to a lady and she had accepted. Ben was pleased, and Hoss couldn't have been happier for his younger brother. However Hoss talked to Candy one day in the stable about the situation and Tom overheard them.

"Seems a shame that Joe's getting married and we ain't got no way of letting Adam know he should be here for the wedding."

"You think he'd come? From the way Joe talks, he walked out on the family and didn't look back."

"Aw, Joe was upset that he left. He never did understand why he did."

"And you do?"

"Sort of, I guess. You should maybe more than me. I never had that urge to wander. Adam always did. He always was the one wanted to take trips. Pa could count on him to go wherever he wanted him to go. He always went. I like my own bed and having my family around me all the time. Adam liked new things."

"What do you think happened because Joe says he stopped writing to you."

"I dunno. He wrote about some kind of trouble and then he didn't marry his gal and up and closed up his business and left Boston. We don't have any idea where he is. He kinda hinted at going to Paris, but I don't think he went there."

"I thought Joe said that's where he was going."

"Nah, he hinted, but that's Adam's way. Ifn he was really going there, he woulda up and said he was going there. I remember when he was seeing a gal over in Gold City once and Pa didn't like her. He'd say something like "I'm thinking about going over to Carson City to look at some horses." And then Pa would say not to take more than two days 'cause like we needed him back on Monday. He'd give me a wink as he went out the door, and I knew what he was doing."

"Where do you think he is then?"

"Wish I knew, but I got this gut feeling that he ain't that far off. I wish I knew where to look though." Hoss remembered the conversation with Joe about trying to use a few beers to get Tom to tell them what he knew of the stranger who had told him about using 'restraint'. He and Joe had discovered that Tom didn't drink and had never come up with a different plan to get the young man to tell them anything. That was already few months ago now and the information was probably too old to use by his estimation.

After Candy and Hoss left the stable, Tom came out from the tack room where he had been putting away items that Joe had sent him to store. He was feeling guilty for not telling Hoss and Joe where their brother probably was, but at the same time, he felt he owed loyalty to Adam and had made a promise to him. It was a quandary and he wasn't able to work out a way to resolve those two conflicting goals.

In Denver, Jim also had a problem too after he got two big surprises. The first was something he set aside to share with Adam when he returned. It was a report on Horace Mason who was appealing his conviction. His lawyers had dug up a witness who said Adam had forged all those documents that were submitted and he was the one who had actually taken all the kickbacks and made all the bribes. Unless Adam could be produced as a witness, there was a chance that Horace could get a new trial and get out based on reasonable doubt. Despite Adam's concern about going back to Boston, Jim was going to try to convince him that he needed to do it. He was a U.S. Marshal now and they protected their own. It was Jim's opinion that the forces of the federal government were not going to let Boston criminals kill a U.S. Marshal with impunity.

The next surprise was actually more of a shock. Jim got a telegram assigning Adam to pick up a prisoner in a small town in the opposite direction from Denver than the road to Cripple Creek. He wired back that Adam wasn't back yet with the prisoner from Cripple Creek. Then he got a wire that made him know Adam was in serious trouble. There had never been an assignment to pick up a prisoner in Cripple Creek. He knew it must have been a ruse to get Adam on that road. Jim quickly got several men hired for a rescue party, told Belinda where he was going, and headed out on the road toward Cripple Creek worried about what he was going to find. It had been three days since Adam had left with Del. That was a lot of time to be out there facing men who wanted to kill you. He had to hope he wouldn't find him the way he had found the previous man with whom he had worked. That image still invaded his dreams on occasion, and Adam was a friend. It was going to be a nightmare to find him that way. He prayed every mile he rode that it wasn't true. He kept telling himself that Adam was more resourceful and more intelligent and anything else he could think that would help him keep the other thoughts at bay.

Chapter 6

After several weeks of wrestling with thinking he knew where Adam was but not telling Adam's family and having trouble sleeping, Tom decided to go to the smartest man he knew on the Ponderosa and whom he thought could handle such a complex problem.

"Hop Sing, can I talk to you about a personal problem and have you promise not to tell nobody what I'm gonna tell you?"

"Cannot make such a promise and not know what is secret. I friend to you and I help you, but I friend to Cartwrights too and I help them."

"Then I don't know if I can rightly talk to you about this."

At that point, Hop Sing knew he had to adjust what he had said. Obviously the young man knew something that could have an impact on his family and Hop Sing needed to know what that was. "You sit. You talk. I do what is best for you and what is best for Cartwrights. You trust Hop Sing?"

"I trust you."

"All right, you tell me what you hold inside."

So Tom told Hop Sing about meeting a man named Adam, described him and what he had done, and then how he had sent Tom to the Ponderosa. "But he said not to tell them who it was who sent me. I was to say it was an old friend of the family."

"So he not want you to tell the family here. You promise this?"

"I did."

"I too much like family and you tell me. Now I have to keep secret too. It is matter of honor." Hop Sing saw how disappointed Tom was with that for he had hoped that somehow telling Hop Sing would remove his burden, but now both had the same burden. Hop Sing had an idea though. He went to the kitchen door and saw Candy outside working where he had been earlier. Hop Sing called to him and asked him to come into the kitchen. He looked to Tom. "He make you promise not to tell them and you think he mean family here, right?"

"Yes, that is exactly who he meant, I think."

"Mister Candy not family but as close as a brother to Mister Hoss and Mister Joe. You tell him."

"Why?"

"Because he tell Mister Hoss and Mister Joe."

"Oh, and that way I didn't break my promise because I didn't tell the family. I told him, and he's not family."

Hop Sing was beaming because he felt very clever but especially because he thought he had helped the family find the missing son. Candy simply looked very confused until Tom began explaining what he knew. When Tom finished, Candy looked to Hop Sing.

"You think this is Adam Cartwright?"

Hop Sing nodded. "It him. I know it. You tell story like Tom told you and Mister Hoss and Mister Joe know it too."

"If he's that close, why doesn't he just come on home. Why the big secret?"

The only one who had any clue to that answer was Tom. "He seemed really sad a lot of the time. I don't know what happened to him, but it kinda seemed he didn't want anyone to know his name like maybe he was worried somebody might be after him. Might be they are, and he didn't want to bring that trouble here. If he really cares about his family, he'd want to keep any big trouble away from them. Right?"

"What kind of trouble could he have gotten in like that by building buildings?"

There was no answer to that, but in Colorado, Adam was in a lot of trouble because of that very thing. He and Delbert had escaped the ambush because Adam had seen the glint of sunlight on metal in the trees and guessed that there shouldn't be any there. He had paused and told Delbert he thought they might want to backtrack and check things out when shots were fired. Del was hit in the leg but managed to turn his horse and direct Adam to ride to the northwest.

"Ride hard, boy, and I think we still got a chance. There's a hill up that way that's a natural for us to use. Go!"

Riding hard, the two men managed to elude the pursuit behind them and reached the slope of the hill Del had mentioned. Adam rode up the slope following Del until they reached a natural depression near the top. There, Del dismounted and fell. Adam got the rifles and canteens from the horses as well as the blankets and saddlebags even though shots were being fired at them. Shooting up the hill, the men hadn't yet gotten the range so Adam took full advantage of it getting as much of the gear from the horses as he could before they did. Del crawled into the depression and pulled his bandana and wrapped it around his leg waiting for Adam to get to him to give him some help. There wasn't enough cover for the horses nor was there a source of water. Adam let the horses free because they were likely to be shot otherwise. After checking down the slope to be sure there was no one advancing on them, he headed into the depression to help Del.

"Who you figure them jaspers are. We ain't got us no prisoner or no witness. Ifn they took one good look at us, they could see we don't have much worth stealing. Now if they wanted the horses, they got 'em."

"Maybe that's what they want. Maybe they thought to steal the little we had and take our horses."

"Why is it you don't sound too much like you even believe what you're sayin' to me?"

Fastening his own bandana around Del's leg, Adam took another look down the slope to be sure they were still safe from an assault, and then leaned back to regard Del with a somber look. "They shoot like they know what they're doing. They didn't chase us up this slope and put themselves in jeopardy."

"You think they done things like this before." Pausing briefly, Del regarded Adam as somberly as Adam had looked at him earlier. "They mean to kill one or both of us. That ambush wasn't about stealing nothing. It was to kill. That's why the first shots were rifle shots. I wondered about that as I sat here watching you get the gear. To steal our stuff, it woulda like as not been pistol or scatterguns up close."

"I was thinking the same."

"I ain't made anyone that mad in a while. You?"

"Yeah, there are some who have reason to be upset. I was starting to think they had given up the idea of coming after me though. I guess I shouldn't have gotten so sure of myself."

"Jim isn't gonna miss us for at least three or four days."

"We're going to get thirsty up here. We only have two canteens."

"We could always jump into the river. If the rocks down below don't kill us though, the rapids about a half-mile from here would. My fault too. I thought that they'd give up seeing us in a spot they could never get to. Didn't know that they really wanted then. This is a real pickle we're in now."

"We can see a long way. Maybe we can get some people to help by shooting if we see somebody coming."

"That might work, Adam, except they'll ride right into that hornets' nest down below without ever seeing 'em until it's too late. You see the way the road curves around this slope. They got cover no matter which way the riders come in."

"So if Jim comes with help?"

"They might gun him down."

"I can't let that happen. He's got a wife and little boy, and he's got another one on the way."

"Well, somehow you'd have to draw them jaspers out of their positions so they could be seen. Be a suicide to do it though. There's no cover between here and there."

Del could see Adam thinking, and he guessed that Adam had already decided that didn't matter. What he needed was a plan and was already trying to think of one. He had a few days to come up with it.

On the Ponderosa, Candy tried to think of a plausible reason to ask the Cartwrights to assemble so he could talk to them but couldn't come up with anything. He decided to simply ask them to do it because he had something to tell them that was important. When they all sat down waiting for him to speak, he could see them smiling. They probably thought he had some good news about himself. He started out instead by saying he had been asked by Hop Sing to speak to them.

"I know that sounds odd but hear me out."

Candy explained why Tom told Hop Sing what he knew and why neither of them felt they could honorably tell the family but that they didn't think the promise that Tom made covered Candy so he was telling what the man in Denver had told Tom and what Tom knew about him. "First of all, the man's name is Adam."

"I knew it. I knew it had to be him." Joe stood by the fireplace and looked at Hoss. "Didn't I tell you when we were on the cattle drive, that the man that Tom talked about sounded an awful lot like Adam?"

Looking a little confused, Ben had a question. "You knew that months ago and didn't say anything about it?"

Sheepish then, Joe had to admit the truth. "Well, when I asked Tom, he wouldn't say much only that the man never gave his name and that he didn't talk about himself. Hoss said we should get Tom to drink a few beers and maybe loosen him up a little so he would talk, but that was before we found out that Tom doesn't drink."

"He doesn't drink?"

"Nah, says he doesn't like the taste of the stuff." Hoss looked almost offended by the idea.

"Don't you want to know the rest of what Tom said?" Candy was baffled a bit.

"Sorry, Candy, but me and Joe been talking about this, and as soon as you said his name was Adam, it kinda made us jump to the end. Go ahead and tell us the rest especially since Pa don't know all of it."

So Candy told them everything that Tom had told him including the attempted bank robbery thwarted by Adam, the invitation by the marshal to dinner, some of the things Adam had said to him about church and other things, and then about buying the horses including the one Adam had picked out for himself. Ben agreed it certainly sounded like Adam. Hoss got directly to the main idea.

"Now I think me and Joe oughta take Tom and go to Denver to get Adam and bring him home."

"There are a couple of things wrong with that plan. Joe has a wedding to plan with his future wife. She is going to be upset if he leaves now only weeks before the wedding. Joe also is in the middle of that contract for the Army and that has a deadline, which is fast approaching. With Tom's help, it should be done without a problem."

"Well, I suppose I could go do it alone ifn Tom was ta give me the particulars of what he knew."

"No, he'll give us the information, and we'll go."

Hoss grinned broadly then. "Yup, Pa, he'll give us the information, and then we'll go."

There was one problem with that plan. Tom wouldn't answer any of their questions directly. They had to ask Candy who had to talk to Tom and then come back with the information for them. The main thing they learned was the name of the bank where Adam had prevented a bank robbery and apparently had an account. Tom also remembered the name of the federal marshal who had invited Adam to dinner that same night. It wasn't much especially as the information was months old, but Ben thought it was enough to find him if he was still in Denver. They hoped that if he wasn't, they would still have enough information to get an idea of where he had gone. Hoss and Ben packed their things and were ready to travel the next morning. Hop Sing was supposed to give them a ride to town, but it was Joe who did so they could take the first train out.

"You bring my older brother back with you or you tell him I'm coming to get him, and I'm a lot stronger and smarter than I was when he left, and he's a lot older now too."

"I guess we better bring him back, Pa, 'cause I sure don't want to be the one to tell Adam that."

The three shared a laugh before Hoss and Ben boarded the train. Joe waved goodbye and couldn't keep his eyes dry. He found the ride home seemed very long.

Once Ben and Hoss made their connections via spur lines to the main line, it would only be a few days and they would be in Denver. Both were anxious to see Adam again. They had been to Denver before, but somehow the trip seemed to take so much longer this time. Finally the conductor announced that they were approaching Denver. They grabbed their bags and waited for the train to arrive at the depot.

Anxious to find Adam, they were already moving to the door as soon as the train began to slow and were the first to disembark. They got directions to the bank that Tom had named and within a half hour were inside that bank asking to speak to the bank manager. The man was either incompetent or downright unfriendly by Hoss' estimation because he didn't seem to have any idea what Adam's name was nor how the man who had helped them so much could be found. Abruptly in the middle of their conversation, he had left the office and then come back saying nothing about why he had left. They had hoped he had gone to get information but he had nothing more to say. So the next thing they did was to ask where Marshal Jim Warner's office was. They got the same response they got when asking anything about Adam. The man seemed to know nothing. As they grew more frustrated, the manager suggested that perhaps it was time for them to leave. Unable to make any progress with him, they had little choice except to do that. When they walked out, there was a line at the teller's window because now there was only one teller when before there had been two. The manager asked people to be patient as the other teller had been required to run a short errand, but the manager assured them that he would be right back. The line of men waiting for service was only partially mollified, but were certainly more pleased than Hoss or Ben who stepped outside the bank to decide what to do next.

"How do we find a marshal's office?"

"Hoss, I would think any good carriage driver would know. Let's hail a carriage and get a hotel room, and then come back and find the marshal's office. If it ends up being as difficult as this was, I don't want to be carrying my bag with me all day."

"It looks like a nice place right across the street there, Pa."

"It does, and it convenient to the bank. Maybe Adam stayed there. We can ask."

Hoping to get a room and possibly some information after being stymied at the bank, Ben and Hoss headed across the street to the hotel not noticing some men arriving and two others following them across the street. Those two signaled the new arrivals who walked ahead of all of them and into the hotel. When Hoss and Ben entered the hotel, the group of men fanned out around them. When Ben and Hoss got to the desk to ask for a room, the men moved in and guns were pressed into the backs of the two as their pistols were taken from them. They were told to stay quiet and put their hands on the hotel front desk. A quick search was done to make sure they had no more weapons. Then the guns were removed from their backs. It was a relief to father and son not to have that pressure applied, but they were shocked by the questions that followed the action.

"Who are you and why do you want to find Adam Cartwright?"

Chapter 7

Standing nearly six feet tall and with experience as a leader, Ben Cartwright was not easily intimidated even by four men with guns especially when he was searching for his son. These men obviously knew something he wanted to know.

"Adam is my son. I'm Ben Cartwright, and I'm here to see him. Now where is he?"

Slightly taken aback by the forceful tone of what he had said as well as by the content, the four men paused before the man who had spoken first recovered enough to be suspicious.

"What proof do you have of any of that?"

As Ben moved to reach inside his coat for his wallet, four pistols were raised even more causing him to stop. "I'm only reaching for my wallet. You already have my pistol." He carefully and slowly removed his wallet and produced a bank draft from it that had his name on it showing it to the man who had asked. "We came here only knowing that Adam had stopped a bank robbery and that he knew a Marshal Jim Warner. We want to find him and talk to him."

"We can help you with the finding, but as far as talking to him, that may be a bit more difficult at the moment. You can leave your bags here."

Although Ben tried to get more information, none of the men would answer any questions telling him instead to book his room so they could leave. It took only a few minutes for Ben and Hoss to sign for a room and have their bags sent there, and then they walked with the four men outside where a large carriage was summoned. It had clearly been waiting for them. Once inside the carriage, Ben asked what the man had meant by his statement, but as with previous attempts, he said all would be answered in good time. The silence had Ben and Hoss worried, and those worries were confirmed when the carriage pulled up to a small hospital. The spokesman for the group led them inside as the others left. They were greeted by another man who was introduced as Marshal Jim Warner. They were finally getting closer to Adam, but in this setting, they were worried about his condition.

"Adam and another man, Delbert McCracken, are in this room. Both were injured in an ambush. Del is awake, but Adam hasn't been since it happened."

"What exactly happened? Why was my son ambushed?"

"Your son is a U.S. Marshal. He thought he was on a job assigned by the Marshal Service. However it was a ruse to get him out where he could be attacked. Somehow, he detected the ambush and they escaped it but Del was wounded. They took a defensive position and waited for help. It took three days for help to come. It was that long before we knew he had been set up. Because Del was shot, he developed a fever and wasn't much help to Adam who apparently stayed up all night every night to be sure they weren't attacked in the dark. The first night, he made a small fire and when he thought that men were approaching up the slope, he tossed out the burning sticks and started the slope on fire. Del said he heard the men hollering as they ran to get away from the burning grass. It also burned off the cover they could use to sneak up the slope."

"Yup, sounds like my brother." Hoss was proud hearing how Adam had been able to handle himself.

Ben was more worried though. "But why is he here?"

"He apparently acted like he was drinking some of the water they had but actually wasn't. He gave all the water to Del and that probably saved Del's life. But for Adam, that made him weaker. He didn't have water. He didn't have sleep. On the third day, when he saw us coming, he knew the men down below could ambush us. He had to make them show their position so we would be able to defend ourselves against them. He ran down that open slope firing at them until they had to shoot back or be shot by him. He took a bullet in the leg and went down."

"A bullet to the leg? Did it break the bone then or something awful like that?"

"No sir, your son was lucky in that regard, but blood loss added to the other problems and then a three day ride back here. He was only weak at first, but it got worse as we traveled. He would pass out and it would be hard to get him to wake so we could give him water. Now he's so weak that the doctors can't rouse him. They can't get him to take enough water. If they can't, there's no way to save him."

A woman stepped out of the room then and it was clear she had cried. Jim introduced her as his wife Belinda. "I didn't want her to come. You can see she's about to have our baby, but she thought maybe Adam would respond to her. They've talked a lot in the last few months. I can tell though that it didn't work."

"We want to see him."

"Of course, but I'll have to lead you in." Jim stepped into the room first and nodded to two men inside. Ben and Hoss followed him in and saw two armed men inside, one by the door and one by the window. "They're U.S. Marshals. Someone tried to kill these two men. They won't get another chance. There are men outside the hospital keeping watch, and two in the hallway outside staying out of sight but watching."

Ben and Hoss heard what he said, but their eyes were on the bed on the right in the room where Adam lay very still. They moved to his bed with one on either side of him. Jim watched as each man took one of Adam's hands and held it gently. Ben spoke softly to his son.

"Adam, son, I've missed you so. You can't leave now when I've found you. Joe's getting married. We all want you home for the wedding. I want you home." There was no response.

"C'mon now, Adam. Joe said ta tell ya that he's stronger and smarter now than he used ta be, and he said this, not me, but he said you was older now too. He said ifn ya wasn't coming home with us, he was gonna come for ya. I think he thinks he can take ya now. Ya better wake up and start taking nourishment or it might be true." Still there was no response.

As Ben continued to talk softly to his son encouraging him to wake, Hoss looked over at Jim and the others. He could see how disappointed they were. Obviously they had hoped that Adam's family might be able to pull him up out of the abyss into which he had dropped. It wasn't working. Hoss had an idea though.

"Pa, when Adam was being stubborn with ya, that was never the way you two worked it out. You never talked soft and gentle with him. You always blew up at him like a steam locomotive got too much coal shoveled in. There was always lots of smoke and noise."

"He's laying in bed helpless and weak, and you want me to yell at him?"

Hoss shrugged and looked at his father with those baby blue eyes full of innocence. "Could it hurt?"

Ben stared at Hoss as if his middle son was going slightly batty. Hoss stared back challenging his father to come up with an answer. Ben couldn't. He tried to do that and couldn't. He looked down at Adam and remembered what Jim had said. If they couldn't rouse him, he couldn't be saved.

"Adam Cartwright!"

Hoss had to smile a little seeing the three other men in the room involuntarily jump just a little at his father's booming voice.

"You have laid there long enough. You will open those eyes of yours and take some water or so help me, I'll think about tanning you for the first time in over twenty years!"

Adam didn't miraculously open his eyes, but he did move his head and there was a sound from him almost as if he had suddenly expelled a breath with some force.

"That's it, Pa. Keep going."

"That's not enough. You don't get to be lazy now. You've got to set a good example for your brothers and I won't have you laying here and giving up like some whipped puppy."

By then, Belinda and a doctor had entered the room. The doctor objected to what Ben was doing, but Jim turned to both him and Belinda and quickly explained what was happening. Both watched to see if there was any additional response. There was.

"Pa, he's squeezing my hand a little."

"Mine too, Hoss."

"All right, Adam, I gave you a job to do, and I don't accept you doing half of it. I told you to open your eyes so you could take water and nourishment. I expect you to do that right now."

Clearly Adam was trying to respond. Once more he expelled breath forcefully but several times and not just once. His eyelids were moving a little but his eyes were not open. The doctor had left the room but returned with a nurse and moved to the bedside asking Hoss to step aside. The nurse placed a spoonful of sugar water at Adam's lips. There was almost a cheer in the room when he opened his mouth just enough for her to tip the spoonful of liquid inside his mouth. Then he swallowed. The doctor reached down and pulled back an eyelid and when he released it, it didn't close completely. He did the same on the other side.

"He is very weak yet, but you completed a miracle cure. With his eyes open even that little, he can see you now, but you may be a bit blurry to him. Don't expect him to be able to hold a conversation with you. He's much too weak for that, and if he tries, he'll use up what little energy he has. He can't afford to waste that. Nurse Parsons will give him as much of that cup of sugar water as he will take. Right now that is the most important thing. If we can get enough fluid into him, he can make it."

"How will you do that?"

"We'll see if we can get him to take more liquid in about a half hour. We'll try broth and other liquids as well as water. If we can, we'll try to do that every half hour until we can get him on solid foods too. I do think that is enough yelling at him though." The doctor smiled as he said it however and then left. Once the nurse finished spooning the liquid into Adam's mouth, she left too.

Jim told them that he needed to get Belinda home. "We have a friend taking care of our son, and she'll stay with Belinda too to help out."

"Jim, will you come back at some point and tell us more about this situation and why Adam was ambushed? I'm afraid he isn't going to be able to tell us much for a long time."

"I can come back and tell you the bare bones of it. I have some newspaper accounts I can bring with me too. You might find them interesting reading while you wait. I don't know the whole story, and I don't know that I have the right to share all the personal details that I do know. You'll have to wait until Adam is strong enough and then see what he'll tell you."

Knowing full well Adam's penchant for holding things in and not sharing too much of his personal life, Ben and Hoss accepted that. They would take whatever they could get to try to understand what had happened and why Adam had not come home. They did ask for their pistols and those were returned to them. Then they took turns standing by Adam's side and talking to him telling him about Joe's upcoming wedding and about Tom arriving on the Ponderosa and fitting in so well there. When it was clear that Adam was sleeping, they sat and waited until the nurse reappeared with a cup of broth, and then Ben helped wake him but not with yelling. Simpler means worked the second time.

After two hours, Jim returned with the newspapers but said he couldn't stay to talk. It seemed Belinda had gone into her labor and would likely deliver that night. They understood and had the newspapers to read, and Del volunteered to tell them what he knew. It was probably going to be enough because they were going to need some sleep too. Adam fell into a deeper sleep soon after that, and there were no more attempts to get him to take liquid. When the nurse came to check the urinal that was placed in his bed though, she smiled and said things were beginning to work. It was a positive sign. She replaced it with an empty clean one and left. Hoss chuckled.

"Ifn Adam knew what she was doing, he'd be so embarrassed."

Del looked over and frowned. "Why? She's a right nice looking woman. I wouldn't mind too much ifn she wanted to do it for me, but they make me use the chamberpot here by my bed."

Hoss and Ben laughed at the look of disgust that Del had. Then Ben asked if there was anything they could do for him. He looked over at the two men and then glanced at Adam sleeping in his bed. He was quiet for a time before he looked back at Ben and Hoss. It was clear he had something serious on his mind.

"I've met some brave men in my life. I've seen ordinary men too, and I've seen a few crack under pressure and be cowardly. Until that day when he charged down that slope, I'd never seen a real hero. He is, ya know. He coulda waited up there on that slope and slunk off in the darkness. I knowed he had the skills ta do it. Being shot and all, I was here in the hospital before I figured out that he didn't drink any of the water we had up there but give it all to me 'cause I was wounded. He knew I needed it to survive, and he took his chances that we'd get rescued in time." Ben and Hoss could hardly breathe listening to the story. The only sound in the room except for Del's voice was Adam's soft breathing. "Then we saw riders coming, and Adam said he knew it was Jim by the way he was riding. There were men there who were coming to rescue us, but them men down in the trees woulda gunned 'em down before they had a chance. The only way to stop 'em was to get 'em to give away their position before Jim and the others were in range. Adam took his pistol and rifle and started running down that slope as well as he could, which really wasn't that good. I figured it was on purpose, but I know now that he was ready to collapse. He fired at 'em and made a heck of a racket, but the worst thing for them was he was gonna shoot 'em if they didn't shoot back. They did, and that's how Jim and the others knew where they was. They got 'em and a couple of 'em they got alive. They're gonna find out who hired 'em too."

"It was probably that Horace fellow in Boston. That's who I figure it is." Hoss was fairly sure of that after reading the papers Jim had left.

"Could be them bankers he snookered in Nevada too ifn they figured out it was him." Del had heard the marshals talking often enough to have heard that story.

That got Ben and Hoss to sit up and pay very close attention. Ben was the first to say something though. "He fooled some bankers?"

""Yeah, Jim's in charge of a lot of stuff to do with banks, and he went out that way because some bank was working with other banks to deny ranchers loans when this here bank called loans, you know, they said pay up now or lose your ranch. It was a pretty slick operation and almost legal too. Anyway, Adam got hold of a bunch of shares of this one bank without using his real name, and they didn't know who was investing in the bank. Then he sent a funny kind of telegram to the head of the bank. Something like saying he was watching him and the fellow ought to watch his back. Man resigned a couple of weeks later. Couldn't stand the pressure. Anyway, they stopped trying to steal ranches out from under folks, and well Jim did his part too."

Ben and Hoss said nothing as they digested all of that information. It was getting late though, and Del thought they weren't that interested. He told them he was going to go to sleep and rolled over turning his back to them. Soon they heard him snoring. Hoss looked at his father.

"You don't suppose he had anything to do with the railroad advancing us those payments, do you?"

Thoughtfully regarding his son, Ben had only one comment. "I think my son has been a busy man."

Chapter 8

About ten, there was a change in shift of the marshal's guarding Adam. Two new men came into the room and told Ben and Hoss they ought to head to the hotel to get some rest. Ben didn't want to go though so a cot was brought in allowing him to stay there. Hoss headed to the hotel promising to be back in the morning. Outside the hospital, Hoss had seen four armed men and assumed they were marshals. As the carriage pulled away from the hospital, he remembered something Jim had said earlier though. They had fewer men on guard at night because the hospital was locked at night and had two security guards. Therefore, they only had men inside at night. He told the carriage driver to stop and ran back the block to the hospital. The four men were gone. Hoss looked around and found where they apparently had forced their way in and killed a security guard. He took that man's gun to supplement the pistol he had and began the climb up the stairs to Adam's room. His caution paid off as he found one man waiting at the top of the stairs watching out the door probably for a signal to move. Hoss hit him on the back of the head knocking him out. He lowered him to the floor none too gently, disarmed him too, and secured him so he couldn't get away. Then he looked out into the hallway by opening the door a crack. He saw two men moving down the hallway toward Adam's room as a third seemed to be standing watch at the other end. One of the two men waved toward him as if to signal him to join them not realizing he wasn't their man. He took a deep breath, got a firm grip on his pistol, pushed the door open about a foot and yelled.

"Pa, look out, they're coming for Adam!"

One of the two in the hallway froze momentarily but the other as well as the lookout turned to fire in Hoss' direction. In the room, Ben was startled but hadn't yet gone to sleep. He fumbled for his pistol, but the two men in the room immediately took up defensive positions with one at the door and the other crouched by Adam's bed with his weapon aimed at the door as well. One man from the hallway brazenly opened the door and was immediately shot. There were more shots from the hallway and Hoss' yelled for help. Ben moved to go there, and the two were going to stop him and one grabbed his arm.

"You protect this son. I'll help my other one."

They let him go, and he pushed the door open a crack to see that Hoss was firing in two directions with a man on either side of him. Ben had a good line of sight to the one on Hoss' right so he yelled to his son.

"I'll take the one to Adam's gun hand. You take Little Joe's."

Ben stepped out then and fired rapidly at the man to Hoss' right hitting him. Hoss fired at the man to his left then and got him to retreat. He and his father pursued the man but lost him. A short time later, they heard shooting outside and wondered what had happened. They found out minutes later. The other hospital security guard had summoned the authorities who had ordered the other gunman to stop outside, but he had opened fire instead.

"So they're all dead, and we don't know who hired them."

Hoss grinned. "Nah, there's one with a nasty headache in the stairwell. I used his own belt to tie his feet together and my bandana on his wrists. I'll show these men where he is. He might not be awake yet."

Even Adam couldn't sleep through that much noise. When Ben got back to the room, one of the men there was at the bedside talking to Adam and telling him everything was all right. Ben moved there next and reassured his son that all was well. It was his father's voice that worked. Adam calmed hearing his father. Ben asked if he was thirsty. He nodded slightly so Ben did his best to give him a drink using the nurse's glass by the bedside. It worked reasonably well, and then Adam relaxed and fell back asleep again. His color was better though and he had been able to keep his eyes open and focused on his father too. Ben and Hoss smiled at each other across the bed. It seemed Adam was on the road to recovery. However, there were still those who wanted to kill him.

The next morning, Ben and Jim talked. The men they had in custody were still refusing to name who had hired them. Ben thought that as soon as possible, it would be best to move Adam to the Ponderosa.

"If we can get him out of here, they won't know where he is."

"It won't take them that long to find out."  
"Jim, the Ponderosa is a big place. It will be very difficult for them to approach the house without us knowing. I can set a lot of men to watch."

"All right. As soon as the doctors say he can be moved, that might be the best plan because I don't know how many more men have been hired to kill him. Too many have tried already."

That day, Adam was able to drink without difficulty and ate some soft foods. The doctor reluctantly admitted that he could travel by train as his wound was not serious and he had no infection. By late in the day, an ambulance was brought to the hospital and Adam was loaded into the back of that wagon to be taken to the train station. Ben and Hoss rode in another carriage and marshals escorted the ambulance although surreptitiously so as not to draw attention to it. Adam was loaded into a sleeper car and immediately fell asleep after the strain of the transfer. A few days later, they arrived in Virginia City where Joe and Hop Sing met them with a wagon outfitted as Ben had requested with a thick mattress and a canvas cover. Adam rode in relative comfort and slowly to the Ponderosa. He was getting stronger by the day, but was still too weak to even sit by himself. Joe was shocked by his appearance but managed to hide it by kidding Adam instead about his thinning hair.

"Boy, you wait until I can get up to do something about that smart mouth of yours."

"I'm looking forward to that, Adam. First though, I'd like to see you standing by my side at my wedding. Hoss will be there. You can lean on him."

Overwhelmed by emotion, Adam could only nod and then closed his eyes as if he was tired, but mostly it was because he didn't want to show the tears he had. He opened his eyes wide a minute or so later though when Ben read aloud the telegram Joe gave to him.  
"It's kinda long, Pa, but I guessed it was important too."

With Adam missing, bosses impatient. Horace dead now. Threatened to expose bosses unless Adam killed. They found easier solution.

"What's that all mean, Pa?" Hoss wondered what it meant and if it meant that Adam was safe now or still in jeopardy.

"It should mean that Adam is now safe. We'll stay vigilant, but there should be no one who wants him dead any more. Apparently Horace Mason wasn't the one hiring the men who tried to kill him. He threatened to expose the other criminals with whom he worked unless they killed Adam so Horace could get out of prison. Adam proved too difficult and expensive to kill, so they killed Horace. As far as they are concerned, that takes care of the problem."

Looking at Adam, his family expected to see him with a smile or at least a pleased expression, but instead he appeared sad. They had to ask why.

"Lucille must be devastated by all of this. She's a good woman and didn't know what her father was doing. I'm sure of that. Her mother, on the other hand, probably knew. She had that pinched face look when she talked about Horace."

"Oh, like she done bit into a lemon, that kind of face."

"Yes, that kind of face. I don't think she approved, but what can a woman do about something like that?" Shifting slightly and doing his best to slide toward the end of the wagon, Adam reached out a hand toward Hoss. "I could use help one more time here. It's rather awkward getting out of here."

Stepping forward to help, Joe was surprised at how much Adam leaned on him when he got out of the wagon. He had been shocked in town to see Hoss helping Adam walk, but now knew that Hoss had been supporting him too. He pulled Adam's arm up around his shoulder and grinned.

"I'm stronger now. I can help you into the house."

With one arm around Hoss' broad shoulders and another around Joe's slender shoulders, Adam grinned. The three brothers headed to the house walking in tandem as Ben walked proudly behind them. Hop Sing went ahead and opened the door for them as they laughed and turned sideways to enter without letting go of each other. Candy watched and realized that Hoss had been correct and all of Joe's complaints had been him venting his frustration and disappointment that Adam wasn't on the ranch. It was clear how much the brothers loved each other seeing how they were at that moment.

Once inside, Adam settled into a soft leather chair and put his feet up on an ottoman. He sighed in contentment and then looked at Joe. "So, tell me about this woman you're going to marry whom I've not met yet."

"Oh, you've met her. I went with her to a few dances and socials back a few years. You were still here. Well I have seen a few ladies."

"A few?" Adam started chuckling but Hoss started laughing hard and even their father couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Oh, all right, I've seen quite a few ladies."

"Quite a few? Joe, that's like saying a tornado is kinda windy outside." Adam smiled broadly.

"Of maybe a blizzard is a pretty little snowfall. Or the War Between the States was a bit of a fight. Or maybe . . ."

"All right, all right, I get it. You think I've been with too many ladies. The point is, that after seeing the other ladies, my thoughts often came back to this one, but she was supposed to marry Tom Burgess. Well Tom kept putting off the wedding for one reason or another, and when she finally said no more delays, he up and left town. His family doesn't even know where he went or why he left, but it's clear he didn't want to get married. So I decided to go see her again. It's Sarah Matthews. We were in school together for a few years. She's smart and not a lot of men came calling because of that. I like that she's smart. We'll have real smart children."

"I think I remember her. Isn't she kind of quiet and serious?"

"She is, and if you're thinking that won't fit with me, then I have to tell you that I've changed. I like that in a woman now. We have great conversations about things."

"I didn't mean anything by the question, Joe. I was just trying to remember which of your friends she was. I look forward to seeing her again."

"I'm sorry, Adam. I guess I get defensive whenever I think anyone is being critical of Sarah. So, are you going to tell us what happened with you and Lucille? She sounded like the right kind of woman for you."

Adam dropped his head, and when he looked up, his expression was pained. "She was and she wasn't. We had a lot in common. We liked the same things. We enjoyed our time together." Adam stopped talking and looked down again obviously upset by the subject.

"Son, what was wrong then? Why call off the wedding?"

It was always difficult for Adam to share his innermost thoughts and feelings, but after what his family had done, he thought they deserved to know what had happened. He forced the words to come out. He told them about how he met her and how he ended up doing work for her father and then found out that work was part of the political corruption in Boston involving bribes and kickbacks. "Sadly, I knew she would take her father's side against me. It was then I realized that her love for her father would always be stronger than her love for me. I would always be second. It wouldn't work. I had to defy him and she would never do that."

"When all of this happened, why didn't you come home?"

"I expected them to follow me. I didn't want to bring that trouble here. I did my best to cover my tracks and watched my back. When I was in Denver, it seemed that there was no pursuit, and I learned that Horace had been convicted and sent to prison. There seemed to be no reason for anyone to come after me any more. I thought I would wait a short time and if things remained calm, then I would contact you. But instead, they tried to kill me. And, well, you know the rest."

"Now what about the bank that you own a large part of and the banker you scared so much?"

Stunned, Adam stared at his father who couldn't help but smile a little at that. He liked it when he could surprise his eldest son. It was a bluff too, but he really did want to find out what Adam had done and this was one way to get him to tell the story.

"I think Jim talks too much."

"Oh, the deputy marshals know and so does Del."

"I suppose you got as much out of them as you could. Yes, I invested a lot of funds in that bank, but I already owned quite a few shares so it gave me a large voting block which I can use at this point to get a seat on the board if I want it."

Before Ben could pursue that line of conversation, Hoss decided to play a card in this game too. He had guessed what his father was doing. "So how exactly did you get the railroads to advance us those payments though? That was pretty slick."

"Jim didn't tell you?"

Pausing then, Adam looked through narrowed eyes at his father and brother. Each had the good grace to look a little embarrassed knowing they had been found out in their scheme.

"You've been scamming me. You didn't know anything and you got me to tell you by tricking me. Why didn't you come out and ask me if you wanted to know instead of playing this game with me?"

"Well, older brother, you ain't always willing to tell us." Hoss knew how feeble that was when he said it.

"Shouldn't that be my choice?"

Both rather sheepishly nodded. Then they apologized. Adam never told them any more of what they wanted to know and they asked no more questions. It was quiet for an uncomfortable minute.

"I'm tired and I'd like to go to my room now. Joe, could you give me a hand, please?"

About ten minutes later, Joe walked down the stairs whistling. Hoss stared at him.

"How can ya be so durn happy after what jest happened?"

"It was fun."

"Fun?" Ben was a bit stunned.

"Yes, things are getting back to normal around here. You tried playing Adam, and he played you right back. It was like watching the master at work seeing you two dancing like puppets on a string. You should have seen him grinning as we walked up the stairs. C'mon, think about it. If Adam was really upset, would he have been that calm? You would have heard some real thunder if he had been mad."

Now it was Ben's turn to be stunned. Hoss was perturbed.

"I suppose he's up there now laughing at us."

"No, that part of what he said was true. He is tired. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes almost right away. He's probably sleeping by now. I'm going to town to see Sarah. You two have a nice evening."

Hoss looked up the stairs and then over to his father. "Remind me, Pa, why we went to Denver to bring him home."

All Ben could do was laugh and Hoss joined in. Joe was correct in his evaluation of what had happened. Things were definitely getting back to normal. For the next few weeks, that was the way the days went as the family got back into a more normal routine and Adam fully recovered from what had happened to him. That is, it was normal again until the day it wasn't, and there was going to be a new normal forever because Joe was getting married.

Chapter 9

As Adam stood next to Hoss and watched their little brother say his wedding vows, he couldn't help thinking about the wedding he almost had that would have happened about this time if the engagement had not been broken. So much had happened since that night that it seemed it was years ago instead of months. He smiled for his brother's sake and tried to hide the hurt he had inside but wasn't entirely successful. Luckily it was only Hoss though who seemed to be able to tell.

"Still hurts that much, huh?"

"No, my leg is fine. It's all this dancing that's making my feet hurt. That's all it is."

"That ain't what I'm talkin' 'bout and you know it too. You shoulda been saying your 'I do' about now to Lucille. I don't care what you said. It's still gotta hurt some."

"Can't be helped."

"Maybe not, but at least you can forget a little, can't ya dancing with these pretty ladies here tonight? I sure have had fun dancing tonight. Seems the gals can't get enough of me. You too. Now that Joe isn't available no more, looks like we're gonna get all the attention."

That was true to some extent, but Adam had helped it along. Now that the oldest Cartwright was back and obviously once more available, there were any number of women willing to mend his broken heart. He had made a simple request of quite a few of them though. If they wanted a second dance with him, he asked that they dance with Hoss first. He said he couldn't be happy at the party to celebrate one brother's happiness and see another brother so unhappy and moping about. Adam guessed that once the ladies spent some time with Hoss, some of them would likely want a second or third dance with him. It seemed to be working out that way too. As the night progressed, Adam got tired of all the dancing and wished for some quiet time. He hadn't had so much activity and noise in quite a while and found that it made him long for a more peaceful space without so many people in it. His dance partner gave him the perfect opportunity.

"You seem miles away even though you're dancing with me. I get the feeling that you would rather not be here."

"I'm sorry to be such a poor partner. I've only recently returned to such an active social life, and I find it to be more taxing than I remembered."

"You prefer a quiet night looking at the stars and talking about important ideas to small talk, loud music, and large crowds of people who may have had a bit too much to drink?" She smiled as she asked it though so Adam knew she had not taken offense in his behavior.

"You are a perceptive lady. Do you prefer the same or would you like to stay here with the loud, talkative, and somewhat inebriated friends of my brother?"

"You have somewhere else in mind?"

"There's a garden bench behind the house where the stars can be seen clearly on a night like this, and though you can still hear the music, it is not so loud as to drown out conversation should you wish to engage in that."

"Lead on, gallant sir. I think that sounds delightful."

"Yes, my lady, you wish is my command." Adam offered his arm.

She took his arm and they walked to the garden, but she was smiling too. Adam had to ask why. "Oh, I was thinking that you probably have forgotten my name and are too polite to ask again."

Tipping his head down a little in embarrassment, Adam had to admit that was true. He politely asked then if she could tell him her name again.

"I'm Hortense Martin, but no one calls me that. My parents never considered what the unfortunate nickname would be for a girl with that name. When I was old enough for school, they started using my middle name, Adella, but that got shortened to Adele by my brothers so that's my name."

"That name sounds familiar to me." Adam looked thoughtful for a moment until he remembered. "You wrote that article about two men dying in the mines because of improper shoring. I remember that now. It helped pressure the mines to use more square set timbering."

"Yes, those two men were my brothers. Martin is my married name." Adam only looked questioning hoping she would explain that one. "My husband died in the typhoid epidemic that hit here about ten years ago. We weren't married very long. We never had any children. I got a small house and enough money from what we owned to live on if I watch my spending and do some writing to earn a little as stories are needed. I fill in as a teacher or as the librarian too when the town needs me."

"Do you like to read?"

"Very much, but I think I've read everything in the library here and I don't have enough in my budget to buy books."

"I have books here that I could lend to you. I have more in Denver."

"Denver?"

So Adam gave a brief account of what he did there, and then they relaxed and looked at the stars. Adam named the constellations and that led to a discussion of how his father had taught those to him on the journey west and for a few years after that. Finally they realized the music had stopped.

"I suppose I ought to walk you back to the party so you can get your ride back to town."

"I took my own carriage here. I'll drive back."

"Oh, I don't want you to go alone. I could go with you."

"But then you would have to ride alone in the dark to get back here."

"No, I could take a room in town. I've done it before. I could ride back home with my family after church in the morning."

Standing, Adam offered his arm again. He thought about kissing her, but it didn't seem right to rush it so he passed on the attempt not sure if she would expect that anyway. They walked back to the party finding that most of the guests had already left. With a grin, Hoss hailed them as they returned.

"Ya missed the big toast to the happy couple and watching them leave. Pa says we gotta get this all cleaned up tonight. He don't want to wake up in the morning to see this mess."

"Hoss, Adele was going to drive herself back to town. I offered to drive her so she wouldn't be going alone. If we're going to be part of the stream of carriages, we need to leave right now."

Hoss slapped him on the shoulder. "You go right on ahead then. See you in the morning at church?"

With a nod, Adam agreed and then accompanied Adele to her carriage. Ben came out of the house to see Adam walking away and asked Hoss where he was going.

"He's giving that gal a ride to town. He'll meet up with us at church tomorrow."

"Is that Adele Martin?"

"It shore is. She ain't let a man within ten feet of her for years now. I think she likes Adam."

"Yes, usually she comes to parties and sits with the ladies and helps with refreshments. I was surprised to see her dancing. You danced with her too."

"Yeah, it was funny, Pa. Gals would dance with Adam and then they would come dance with me. Some of 'em would dance with me again and some would go back and dance with Adam again."

Ben started to get a little smile and Hoss stared at him wondering what was funny until he thought about what he had said.

"You don't think he did that, do you?"

"Hoss, you're the one who always tells everyone that your older brother is sneaky."

"Well, mostly it's a nice kind of sneaky. I got me a gal wants to see me again. A week from today, we're gonna go have ourselves a picnic ifn the weather ain't too cold."

"If it's cold, what will you do?"

"She said it's warm at her house." Hoss grinned then, and Ben had to smile. He wished and prayed frequently that a good woman would finally appreciate the wonderful qualities of his middle son. Perhaps someone finally did. They talked about her more as they helped to clean up the yard and put away all the chairs and tables that had been brought out for the wedding celebration. Then it was time to pack away food that wasn't eaten. Much of it went to the bunkhouse where the men assured Ben they would eat it all the next day. They were smiling when they said it and Ben knew it was probably because they seldom ate that well two days in a row. It would be a banquet again.

"Just so you don't expect to eat that well every Saturday and Sunday."

"No sir, we don't, but we do appreciate when we get to have a couple of days like this."

Hop Sing was happy too because with all the extra food, Ben gave him Sunday off telling him he didn't need to be back until Monday morning. With all the praise he had gotten for the food, the bonus with his paycheck, and now a day off, Hop Sing couldn't have been happier.

In town, Adam was feeling good too. The ride to town had been very pleasant as he and Adele continued their conversation or sometimes simply enjoyed the silence and the companionship. Adam appreciated that she didn't feel the need to fill every silence with words. When they got to her house, he insisted on taking care of the horse for her telling her that she wasn't dressed for it. She stayed in her small stable with him though until he finished and then offered to fix a pot of coffee if he wanted some. He smiled and agreed that would be nice but wondered if it was proper.

"Proper?"

"Adele, if I go in your house now, people will talk. Perhaps, it would be best if we didn't have coffee. I could come by in the morning and walk with you to church if you wanted to go."

"I haven't been the most diligent churchgoer, but I'm willing to give it another go. Maybe I won't be bored by a long redundant sermon. I swear though if that man could simply make one point and then stop, he would be more effective. But he goes on and on and on until no one can remember half or perhaps even a quarter of what he's said."

Adam was grinning.

"What did I say that was funny?"

"Nothing funny, but that was my complaint about him years ago. My father did not appreciate that opinion by the way so you might want to hold that in when he's around."

"Oh, that's right. I suppose we're supposed to sit with your family."

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"Well, just like you coming in the house for coffee, people might start talking. They might start saying things about us."

"Things like what? Like Adam Cartwright likes Adele Martin and would like to see more of her? Because if they said that, they would be correct." As Adam had said that, he had moved closer to her. He reached down and tipped her chin up to look at him. There was no resistance so he took a chance and leaned down to kiss her. She made it clear that she was willing and wrapped her arms around his neck as he put his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I was wondering if you were going to kiss me."

"I was wondering if you wanted me to kiss you."

"I think we both got our answers there."

"I better get going or your neighbors are going to be talking. Goodnight Adele. I'll see you in the morning."

With one light kiss, Adam released her and waited until she climbed her back steps and entered her house. Then he walked to the hotel with a lightness in his step that hadn't been there in quite a long time. By the morning though, Adam had second-guessed himself into a lot of doubt about what he had done. It was so quick and so soon after he had been thinking yet of his love for Lucille that he wondered whether what he had done was because he truly liked Adele that much or if he was trying to wipe out the memory of Lucille which still hurt so. When he arrived to walk with Adele to church services, she sensed the change in him. After a short time, she halted the walk.

"What's wrong?"

"Adam, that's why I stopped. I want to know what's wrong with you."

"Wrong with me?"

"Yes, last night, you were relaxed and friendly. Now you act like you're my lawyer or some official escort or at least it feels like that. There's no warmth or sense of friendship in anything you do. If you'd rather not be with me, I can go back home."

"It's not you. It's that I'm not sure of myself."

Adele frowned and waited but there was no more. She decided to take a stab at what she thought perhaps he meant by that statement. "Last night, we showed we could be friends. It was just a kiss not a lifetime commitment. All we are so far are new friends who have interests in common and we were going to explore those. Neither of us knows what might happen next. Perhaps we won't like enough about each other to even stay friends. Who knows. There's no reason to give it up though, is there? I mean, we haven't done anything yet that pushes the scales to one side or the other, have we?"

"I do like your directness. If anything, I'm the one to have done something negative already. I am moody and given to skepticism about most things."

"That's all right. I appreciate that. I don't like men who are impulsive and foolhardy."

"Maybe there are a few things about me that I won't tell you then."

"Oh, it sounds like there are some stories you need to tell me now."

"Let's just walk to church for now so we aren't late. We don't want people talking after we were so good last night."

"Yes, thank goodness that wanting to be bad doesn't count against you."

Soon they were both laughing as they walked and that was what people saw as the couple approached the church: a happy couple walking arm in arm. Ben and Hoss were there and looked at each other pleased as could be to see Adam like that.

Over the next few weeks, Adam was in a good mood as he began to do some light work on the ranch and see Adele when he could. Then a large crate arrived from Denver. On opening it, Adam found all of his property that he had left in Denver as well as a letter from Jim. He opened it and then put it in his pocket without telling anyone what was in it. It was clear that there was something in the letter which he wanted time to consider before discussing it with anyone. Two days later at breakfast, he brought up the letter and pulled out a marshal's badge.

"Jim sent this because I'm still a sworn member of the service. There's an opening for the eastern Sierra district. I've been offered that job. I'm going to take it."

"Adam, I thought you would resign and stay here on the ranch."

"Pa, I considered it, but the reasons I left are still valid. I was chasing a dream then that was smoke. This one is real. I found I liked doing it. I don't think I'll do it for the rest of my life but for now, I will."

"What will Adele say about this?"

"I asked her last night. She had no objections. She has concerns, and we talked about those. I don't know where our relationship is going. If it gets more serious, then her concerns will become more important."

"Where will you live?"

"I'll have to live in a town because I need to have ready access to a telegraph line. I thought Carson City because of the transportation convenience there and it's not that far."

"When will you go?"

"I have to let them know I'll accept and then they will have to send a formal letter of appointment and send some money for me to set up an office and do some hiring. I would think it will be weeks or even a month or more."

Ben was relieved at that news. They still had a lot of time together, and he wouldn't be moving far away. He would be close. With him so close, he guessed he would have time to discuss this with Adam again although he doubted he would be able to change his mind. When Adam made a decision, it was difficult to sway him, but at least he could get him to examine his logic and see if he had thought about all the ramifications of it. At least by the end of their discussions, he would be sure that Adam had made a decision that at least he thought was the best for him at that point.  
"Pa, I have one request of you though. Would you be willing to sit on the board of directors of a bank? In my position, it wouldn't be proper to hold such a role in a bank, but you could. I could sell you one of my shares and then give you the proxies to vote all the other shares. That would give you enough votes to get elected to the board. You could do more good on there than anyone in state government could do."

That idea appealed to Ben, and he agreed. Adam smiled too. By doing this, he was able to achieve another goal without having to compromise any of his principles. He wasn't sure where any of this was going to lead, but he had a good feeling about his life now and was developing a new dream of his future to replace his broken dreams. As the son of a sailor, he knew a lot about charting a course and about recalculating after a storm threw you off course. He was doing that now and felt good about it.

 


End file.
